Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3
September 1998

'A Foot in the Door': Expectations for the future of homeless young adults

by Michael Horn, Hanover Welfare Services
Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3, pp.12-19.
Hanover Welfare Services completed a study of the life aspirations of a sample of its young homeless clients and found that great majority wanted to work, with three-quarters citing education, training and finding a job as the pathways to achieving their dreams. The study's findings, taken with the range of socioeconomic indicators on young people, point to an urgent need to rethink current policies and priorities in the areas of housing, education, training, employment and family conflict.

The educational experiences of homeless teenage girls on Australia's Gold Coast

by Juliette D.G. Goldman and Lindsey D. La Castra
Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3, pp.20-25.
The findings of this study of six homeless Gold Coast high school students revealed that the pressures of day-to-day life, including lack of income and the difficulties of an independent lifestyle, placed severe demands on the students' ability to pursue their education. It was only the very strong-willed and determined young women who persevered with their education. Policy recommendations are made to address the disadvantages experienced by homeless students.

Sexual health service provision to the young and homeless

by Lyn Harrison and Deborah Dempsey
Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3 26-35.
Recent research has indicated that homeless young people in Australia are at increased risk of contracting sexually transmissible diseases, including HIV. A study in Victoria and Queensland revealed that some youth services are involved in the provision of well documented, accountable and innovative sexual health programs, but many rely on informal and more individualised strategies. Case studies of successful and innovative programs are documented.

Policing Space: Juvenile crime and autonomous citizen action

by Richard Hil
Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3 pp.36-41.
Richard Hil looks at vigilante activities in Townsville in 1996 and discusses the motivational factors behind these activities and the local assumption that crime, especially "black crime", was out of control. Hil states that the net effect of vigilantism and more formal types of crime control, such as curfews, is to restrict the right of young people to remain in certain public areas.

Conflict resolution preferences and causal attributions of young male offenders

by Jeff Bailey and Kath Ellerman-Bull
Youth Studies Australia v.17 n.3 pp.42-50.
A study of young male offenders and probationers found that their preferences for conflict resolution were approximately evenly divided between passive and aggressive responses. With regard to causal attributions, there were no differences between the two groups. Interventions based on improving self-regulatory behaviour and personal agency are recommended as means of empowering young offenders and allowing them to take control of conflictive events in their lives.