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Victimization among homeless women: Implications for service delivery
Author(s) -
D'Ercole Ann,
Struening Elmer
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(199004)18:2<141::aid-jcop2290180206>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - psychiatry , sexual abuse , physical abuse , clinical psychology , sexual assault , depression (economics) , medicine , alcohol abuse , suicide prevention , psychology , poison control , medical emergency , economics , macroeconomics
This article focuses on the experience of victimization among a representative sample of 141 homeless women interviewed in a single‐adult shelter in New York City. The frequency of victimization experiences, specifically aggressive sexual and physical assault, was high. Twenty‐one women reported being raped, 42 women reported both rape and physical abuse, and 62 women reported physical abuse without sexual abuse. Shelter women reporting frequent experiences were likely to experience high levels of depressive symptoms; psychotic symptoms; and hospitalization for psychiatric, medical, alcohol, and drug problems. These results further indicate that assault experiences cluster in specific ways and are associated with different clinical outcomes. These findings are seen as underscoring the need for service delivery programs to respond to the experience of vicitimization among homeless women and suggest some future research directions.