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

Document Type

Article

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.