Homeless Youth's Daily Positive and Negative Support from Close Friends

A record number of homeless youth—over 1.2 million—are now enrolled in U.S. public schools (National Center for Homeless Education, 2014). These students experience elevated risks, such as barriers to academic success and fewer social resources (McLoyd et al., 2006). The Risk and Resilience framework (e.g., Masten, 2001; Masten & Powell, 2003) emphasizes that resilience is a process rather than an outcome (Rutter, 2000). Resilient homeless youth need individual-level factors that foster development, such as a sense of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Such characteristics can influence youth’s evaluation of their context and the actions they take towards resilience (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994). Peer social support is an established protective factor that fosters resilience in adolescents (Malecki & Demaray, 2003; Rew et al., 2001).

Previous studies have not investigated the combined effect of positive and negative close friend support impacts homeless youth sense of self-efficacy. To address this gap, the current study investigates the process of resilience in homeless youth by focusing on positive and negative close friend support effect on daily success in a sample of homeless youth (N=98) from a large Southwestern U.S. city. In collaboration with a community agency that serves homeless youth, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data were collected for 10 days. Of the 980 possible person-days of data, 934 data points (a 95.2% response rate) were obtained (Median # of days=10, Mean # of days=9.53). Study inclusion criteria matched the U.S. federal definition of homelessness provided by the McKinney-Vento Act (42 U.S.C. §11431 et seq.). Participants (66% female, 66.7% Hispanic/Latino, age range: 14-20) were assessed daily on the extent to which close friends supported, understood, and complimented them.

Multilevel modeling was used to examine how afternoon positive and negative close friends support predicted sense of success at the end of the day. Results indicate that youth with higher person-level positive support had higher daily success (b=8.41, p<.01), while youth with higher person-level onegative support had lower trait daily success (b=-17.08, p<.01). On the daily-level, however, only positive support, not negative, significantly explained perceptions of daily success (b=1.51, p<.01). These results suggest that helping homeless kids manage personal relationships with less conflict may impact their ability to maintain a sense of personal efficacy as they deal with their life challenges. Further analyses will examine effects of relationship interactions on other domains of personal and academic adjustment and provide implications for prevention programs.