Kontakt 2020, 22(2):120-127 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2020.014

How the length of time spent on the streets impacts adjustment to homelessnessSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Marie Vágnerová1, Jakub Marek1, Ladislav Csémy1,2,*
1 Charles University, Hussite Theological Faculty, Prague 4, Czech Republic
2 National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic

Background: The length of time spent on the street influences the degree of adjustment to homelessness. Over the years spent sleeping rough, homeless people gradually lose the ability to control their lives and their return to mainstream society becomes less and less likely. Goal: The aim of the study was to discover whether and how men who have been sleeping rough for more than ten years differ from those who have been homeless for four years or less.

Methods: The research was based on a narrative analysis of in-depth interviews focused on the respondent's entire life story, i.e. their childhood, adolescence, and the period of adulthood preceding homelessness. The group under examination comprised 51 homeless men aged 37-54.

Results: Men who have been sleeping rough for more than ten years grew up in a problematic family or in an institution and acquired only a rudimentary education. From the start they had problems at work. They tend to have high-risk personality traits and often a personality disorder. Early in life they had problems with alcohol or drugs. They are reckless - even when it comes to the law - and often commit crime.

Conclusions: The length of time a person has been homeless for is an important factor in relation to social prevention. It is clear that the longer a person is homeless, the worse their chances of being reintegrated into mainstream society.

Keywords: Homeless people; Life course; Narrative analysis; Risk factors; Social adjustment

Received: September 2, 2019; Revised: March 5, 2020; Accepted: April 6, 2020; Prepublished online: April 20, 2020; Published: May 6, 2020  Show citation

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Vágnerová M, Marek J, Csémy L. How the length of time spent on the streets impacts adjustment to homelessness. Kontakt. 2020;22(2):120-127. doi: 10.32725/kont.2020.014.
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