Zachary Riggins

Zachary Riggins,  

574 words 

Examining Two Articles on Homelessness 

In the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness, data was analyzed from a 1990 national telephone survey. This article seeks to identify and understand the relationship between exposure and attitudes towards homeless people. Contact hypothesis posits that more exposure to homeless people and their situations yields greater overall opinions. The independent variables include methods of exposure to homelessness, all defined as negative by non-homeless people. Controls include gender, age, education, race, and political as well as ideological beliefs. Building upon previous research, this article highlights problems with contact hypothesis such as how negative predispositions to homeless people actually reduce exposure through avoidance of that group. The researchers preempted such possible errors by looking into avoidance of homelessness directly. The findings are consistent with contact hypothesis notwithstanding some variability. People who have higher exposure to homelessness are generally more likely to believe that homeless people are not entirely responsible for their homelessness. However, direct exposure to homelessness does not yield significantly improved or worsened attitudes. Higher education and liberal political views yield improved attitudes towards homeless whereas older age yields the opposite. Race is also a significant factor in perception of homeless: whites are measured to follow contact hypothesis, whereas black and Hispanic opinions of homeless typically remain unfavorable regardless of exposure. 

The article Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians examines mental illness and previous homelessness in underrepresented Latino and Asian American populations. It analyzes data from NLAAS (May 2002 to November 2003), measuring diagnosis and mental health service in relation to homelessness for Latino and Asian Americans separately. This article keeps track of risk factors determined by previous research regarding homelessness in order to better isolate the effects of mental illness. Prevalence of prior homelessness in both groups is lower than 5% of their weighted total sample size (particularly low in Asian Americans at about 1%). Substance abuse by Latino Americans yields nearly three times the risk for homelessness. Conduct disorder in Latino Americans yields similar results. Latino Americans who attend regular church service are nearly 70% less likely to end up homeless. For Asian Americans, alcohol abuse is tied to a four-times increase in the likelihood of becoming homeless. Mood disorders in Asian Americans yield similar results. Asian Americans who receive welfare are nearly five times more likely to end up homeless. It is difficult to determine the reliability of these results due to the low sample size of previously homeless Latino and Asian Americans when compared to other populations. 

There is some overlap between both articles. The first article briefly mentions that minorities rarely escape race-based stigma of their prior homelessness if they have a history of mental illness or substance abuse. This is particularly interesting when we examine the second article's findings because it focuses on previous homelessness and health-related diagnosis in Latino and Asian Americans. We might be able to extrapolate the idea that the Latino and Asian American peoples measured in the second article—with prior homelessness and history of substance abuse or mental illness—face race-based stigma regarding their prior homelessness. The first article focuses on exposure to homelessness and defines various ways of exposure (direct or indirect). With this in mind, we might consider the second article to be an indirect method of exposure to homelessness. The essential comparison in both these articles is that a rise in awareness of homelessness may improve someone's attitudes towards the homelessness. As a result, they might become more open to ideas and policies of change regarding the issue as a whole.

Zachary Riggins,  

574 words 

Examining Two Articles on Homelessness 

In the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness, data was analyzed from a 1990 national telephone survey. This article seeks to identify and understand the relationship between exposure and attitudes towards homeless people. Contact hypothesis posits that more exposure to homeless people and their situations yields greater overall opinions. The independent variables include methods of exposure to homelessness, all defined as negative by non-homeless people. Controls include gender, age, education, race, and political as well as ideological beliefs. Building upon previous research, this article highlights problems with contact hypothesis such as how negative predispositions to homeless people actually reduce exposure through avoidance of that group. The researchers preempted such possible errors by looking into avoidance of homelessness directly. The findings are consistent with contact hypothesis notwithstanding some variability. People who have higher exposure to homelessness are generally more likely to believe that homeless people are not entirely responsible for their homelessness. However, direct exposure to homelessness does not yield significantly improved or worsened attitudes. Higher education and liberal political views yield improved attitudes towards homeless whereas older age yields the opposite. Race is also a significant factor in perception of homeless: whites are measured to follow contact hypothesis, whereas black and Hispanic opinions of homeless typically remain unfavorable regardless of exposure. 

The article Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians examines mental illness and previous homelessness in underrepresented Latino and Asian American populations. It analyzes data from NLAAS (May 2002 to November 2003), measuring diagnosis and mental health service in relation to homelessness for Latino and Asian Americans separately. This article keeps track of risk factors determined by previous research regarding homelessness in order to better isolate the effects of mental illness. Prevalence of prior homelessness in both groups is lower than 5% of their weighted total sample size (particularly low in Asian Americans at about 1%). Substance abuse by Latino Americans yields nearly three times the risk for homelessness. Conduct disorder in Latino Americans yields similar results. Latino Americans who attend regular church service are nearly 70% less likely to end up homeless. For Asian Americans, alcohol abuse is tied to a four-times increase in the likelihood of becoming homeless. Mood disorders in Asian Americans yield similar results. Asian Americans who receive welfare are nearly five times more likely to end up homeless. It is difficult to determine the reliability of these results due to the low sample size of previously homeless Latino and Asian Americans when compared to other populations. 

There is some overlap between both articles. The first article briefly mentions that minorities rarely escape race-based stigma of their prior homelessness if they have a history of mental illness or substance abuse. This is particularly interesting when we examine the second article's findings because it focuses on previous homelessness and health-related diagnosis in Latino and Asian Americans. We might be able to extrapolate the idea that the Latino and Asian American peoples measured in the second article—with prior homelessness and history of substance abuse or mental illness—face race-based stigma regarding their prior homelessness. The first article focuses on exposure to homelessness and defines various ways of exposure (direct or indirect). With this in mind, we might consider the second article to be an indirect method of exposure to homelessness. The essential comparison in both these articles is that a rise in awareness of homelessness may improve someone's attitudes towards the homelessness. As a result, they might become more open to ideas and policies of change regarding the issue as a whole.