"I May be Homeless, But I'm Not Helpless": The Costs and Benefits of Identifying with Homelessness

Abstract

Abstract Anecdotal research strongly suggests homeless persons who develop subsistence strategies to survive on the street maintain self-reliance yet are highly unlikely to transition back off the street. The current study empirically tests this assumption. Ninety-seven homeless persons were interviewed, given a spontaneous self-concept description measure, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(1979). Combing two self-report scores created an "identification with homelessness" score. As predicted, those individuals who identified most highly with the identity of being homeless: (a) used fewer services (were more self-reliant), (b) made fewer attempts to transition off the street, and (c) had higher self-esteem scores than those with low identification scores. These data and additional data assessing the impact of perceived needs on the aforementioned dependent measures are explored.