Stigma, Disclosure, and Social Support: Stories from the Streets of Los Angeles

• In Event: Communication Activism Scholarship: Examples from Emerging Scholars

Abstract

This study explores experiences of people living on the streets of Los Angeles. Specifically, participants discussed issues related to stigma, disclosure, and social support. Participants were recruited from an after-school center for children living on Skid Row, a large community of people without homes in Los Angeles. This center served as both a recruitment site and research lab. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with African-American men and women about the circumstances that lead to them living on the streets, barriers to disclosing these circumstances, and strategies for building social support. A grounded theory analysis of the data suggests that building new social support networks is easier than maintaining old ones due to stigma, making it difficult to transition off the streets. These findings provide insight into how communication scholars can partner with social service organizations to assist individuals living on the streets to obtain social support in the midst of significant transitions, so that they are better able to transition off the streets.

Author

• Erica Prigg, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign