Exploring Substance Use and Network Composition of Homeless Youth with and without a History of Foster Care

Background: Homeless youth suffer from a wide range of risk factors that impact their quality of life. Emerging research suggests behavioral health differences between youth with and without such histories. The literature has established higher methamphetamine use among homeless former foster youth. This study aims to explore network composition and differences that may exist in homeless youth networks where foster care experience and high methamphetamine use are concerned.

Methods: The YouthNet data set was used for this analysis, comprised of a community-based sample of 652 homeless youth ages 13-25 from two drop-in centers Los Angeles. Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM) were run in R to explore network properties and to determine if foster youth and youth using methamphetamines were independently disproportionately connected to one another.

Results: Results of the preliminary ERGMs indicate that fewer than half of the possible edges exist in this network (β=-9.27, S.E.=.046, P<.001), there was a tendency toward reciprocity, and a very slight tendency toward triangles (β=.027, p<.001). The test for homophily indicated that former foster youth significantly disproportionately affiliate with other foster youth (β=.268, p<.001) while controlling for high methamphetamine use.

Discussion: This study indicates that among homeless youth engaging in high rates of methamphetamine use, former foster youth are likely to connect to one another, regardless of their methamphetamine use, while homeless youth using high rates of methamphetamine are not significantly likely to affiliate. Interventions aimed at promoting long-term behavioral health should focus on the unique network composition of former foster youth.