North C S, Smith E M
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110.
Soc Work. 1994 Nov;39(6):639-47.
The majority of the homeless population are people of color. There has been little study of racial differences among the homeless population, and racial findings have not been reported separately for homeless men and women. This study investigated differences between white and nonwhite homeless people in a randomly selected sample of 600 homeless men and 300 homeless women in St. Louis. The 900 homeless people were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and Homeless Supplement. About three-fourths of the sample were African Americans. The homelessness of the white people was more often internally related, for example, substance abuse in men and non-substance abuse psychiatric illness in women. The homelessness of nonwhite people was more often externally related, for example, socioeconomic problems caused by lower incomes for men and reliance on a failing welfare system by women and their dependent families. These differences point to potentially divergent emphases for intervention with these subpopulations. Because of the diversity within racial subgroups, however, all need a variety of interventions for both external and internal problems.
大多数无家可归者是有色人种。针对无家可归者群体中的种族差异研究甚少，而且针对无家可归男性和女性的种族研究结果也未分别报告。本研究调查了在圣路易斯随机抽取的600名无家可归男性和300名无家可归女性样本中，白人和非白人无家可归者之间的差异。使用《诊断访谈表》和《无家可归者补充问卷》对这900名无家可归者进行了访谈。样本中约四分之三是非洲裔美国人。白人无家可归情况更多是与自身内在因素相关，例如男性的药物滥用和女性的非药物滥用精神疾病。非白人无家可归情况更多是与外部因素相关，例如男性因收入较低导致的社会经济问题，以及女性及其受抚养家庭对失败的福利系统的依赖。这些差异表明，对这些亚群体进行干预可能需要有不同的侧重点。然而，由于种族亚群体内部存在多样性，所有人都需要针对外部和内部问题采取多种干预措施。
