Homelessness and Food Insecurity During Emerging Adulthood: Associations With Changes in Behavioral and Physical Health Over a Two-Year Period.

Autor: Tucker JS; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California. Electronic address: jtucker@rand.org., Perez LG; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California., Klein DJ; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California., D'Amico EJ; RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine [J Adolesc Health] 2024 May; Vol. 74 (5), pp. 1006-1011. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 05.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.12.007
Abstrakt: Purpose: For emerging adults in the United States, economic instability is a widespread problem with implications for the successful transition to adulthood. This study examines how two indicators of economic instability, homelessness and food insecurity, are associated with changes in health-related outcomes over a two-year period.
Methods: The analytic sample (N = 2,182) completed online surveys in 2019-2020 (mean age 23 years) and 2021-2022 (mean age 25 years). Regression analyses were conducted for the full sample, as well as by sexual or gender diverse (SGD) identity (17.8% of sample identified as SGD) and race/ethnicity (76.3% identified as non-White).
Results: At age 23, 8.2% of participants reported homelessness and 31.2% reported food insecurity. In the full sample, homelessness and food insecurity were associated with increased depression, anxiety, physical ailments, and drug problems two years later. A similar pattern emerged for those identifying as non-SGD. The only associations for SGD-identifying participants were food insecurity with increased anxiety, depression, and physical ailments. Racial/ethnic differences indicated that homelessness was associated with increased depression and anxiety among Hispanics, and physical ailments and drug consequences among Asians, but fewer drug problems among Whites. Food insecurity was associated with increased depression in all racial/ethnic groups, anxiety among Hispanics and Asians, physical ailments among Whites and Asians, and drug problems among Asians.
Discussion: Homelessness and food insecurity predicted worse health outcomes during the transition to adulthood, with varying results across SGD and racial/ethnic subgroups. It is important for future research to continue examining long-term effects of economic instability on health disparities during this important developmental period.
(Copyright © 2023 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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