Onset of Conduct Disorder, Use of Delinquent Subsistence Strategies, and Street Victimization among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents in the Midwest

Authors

Xiaojin Chen, Tulane University
Lisa Thrane, Wichita State University
Les B. Whitbeck, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kurt D. Johnson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dan R. Hoyt, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

9-2007

Comments

Published in Journal of Interpersonal Violence 22:9 (September 2007), pp. 1156-1183; doi 10.1177/0886260507303731 Published by Sage Publications on behalf of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Copyright © 2007 Sage Publications. Used by permission. http://jiv.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/22/9/1156

Abstract

This study examines the effects of childhood-onset conduct disorder on later antisocial behavior and street victimization among a group of homeless and runaway adolescents. Four hundred twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters from four Midwestern states. Key findings include the following. First, compared with those who exhibit adolescent-onset conduct disorder, youth with childhood onset are more likely to engage in a series of antisocial behaviors such as use of sexual and nonsexual survival strategies. Second, youth with childhood-onset conduct disorder are more likely to experience violent victimization; this association, however, is mostly through an intervening process such as engagement in deviant survival strategies.