Youth, Homelessness, Education

PI: Yumiko Aratani, Ph.D.
National Center for Children in Poverty
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University 

YOUTH, HOMELESSNESS, EDUCATION
(The effects of runaway and homeless episodes on educational outcomes of youth)

This pilot project aims to examine the causal effect of running away from home and becoming homeless on the educational outcomes of youth. Runaway or homeless youth are assumed to possess the characteristics that are highly associated with poor educational outcomes such as familial conflict and stress and behavioral problems. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data set and employ propensity score matching to address self-selectivity in estimating the causal effect of runaway and homeless episodes. The findings suggest that there is an independent, detrimental effect of having multiple runaways and homeless episodes on the odds of high school dropout. The study finds some support for the exposure to violence and trauma thesis that possibly explains the poor educational outcomes