Testing the Relationship Between Age And Health Service Utilization Among Homeless Female Veterans

Recent research suggests that female veterans are more likely to experience homelessness than their non-veteran counterparts, and that younger female veterans are at the greatest risk of becoming homeless. With a substantial number of females having served in the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, these findings point to the importance of crafting effective strategies to address homelessness among female veterans, and among younger female veterans in particular. In addition, given that women have played an unprecedented role in the recent conflicts, with many attached to combat units, these findings raise the question of whether younger female veterans who do become homeless have different health, mental health and substance abuse treatment needs than their older counterparts. Therefore, this study will use administrative records VA homeless assistance programs to answer the following questions: 1) Among female veterans experiencing homelessness, are younger female veterans more likely to use health and/or mental health services? 2) Among female veterans experiencing homelessness, are younger female veterans more likely to have a problem with drug dependency? 3) Among female veterans experiencing homelessness, are younger female veterans more likely to have a problem with alcohol dependency? The extent to which findings from this study indicate that younger female veterans who experience homelessness are found to have more intensive needs will have important implications for targeting appropriate forms of assistance to female veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be at risk of homelessness.