HOUSING INSECURITY AMONG TEENAGE MOTHERS
Coskun, Lerzan.
2017
-
Abstract: Descent, affordable housing is foundational to physical and
psychological health. Despite the growing interest in understanding the role of housing
conditions in child and family well-being, existing studies have generally fallen short of
capturing the interplay among multiple housing conditions and instead focused on a single
dimension of housing (such as affordability, residential ... read morecrowding). In addition, research
on housing problems have usually been conducted in one demographic, low income families;
yet, housing experiences of another vulnerable subpopulation, teenage mothers and children,
are missing from most of the studies. The present study addresses these gaps in the
literature by investigating the patterns of housing insecurity among families headed by
teenage mothers. Using data from Massachusetts Health Families Evaluation-2 (MHFE-2), I
conducted latent class analysis (LCA) to classify teenage mothers (N = 563) into homogenous
subgroups of housing-related challenges called latent classes. Following the model
selection, I examined the predictors of housing insecurity and the associations between
latent class membership and utilization of home visiting services. Findings provided
support the existence of four latent classes that best described teenage mothers' housing
experiences. Findings also indicated that several background and demographic
characteristics differentiated among latent classes of housing-related challenges. I
discuss the implications of these findings for housing and home visiting programs and
policy.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2017.
Submitted to the Dept. of Child Development.
Advisor: Francine Jacobs.
Committee: Tama Leventhal, Sara Johnson, and Rachel Bratt.
Keyword: Psychology.read less - ID:
- h989rf47k
- Component ID:
- tufts:22390
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote