The Transition to Adulthood for Transient Males and their Pathways to Offending

• In Event: At-Risk Youth in the Community and Juveniles in the Justice System

Abstract

Using emerging adulthood as an overarching theme, this research study examines the life and offending of transient adult males using qualitative grounded theory analysis. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews, young homeless men experience a pathway to homelessness and offending through forced adulthood and the breaking of social bonds. After their bonds to society are weakened they exhibit a cycle of substance addiction and offending. With little social capital as a result, they have limited pathways out of their street-based lifestyle. The qualitative evidence provides a framework suggesting a pathway out of offending, homelessness, and drug abuse through the restoration of prosocial bonds.

Authors

• Edward Gregory Weeks, Lasell College

• Linda M. Williams, Wellesley Centers for Women