members, peers, case managers/service providers, etc.).
While social support is typically deemed a positive con-
struct, it is possible that youths’ social supports, at times,
come in the form of negative influences or others who
encourage or condone risky behaviors. Additional social
coping items might include asking youth about the types of
support provided, including informational, emotional and
instrumental resources.
Moreover, future research would also benefit from fur-
ther understanding the seemingly diverse array of sub-
constructs encompassed within the measure of active
coping. Upon reviewing the items loading on the active
coping factor, it is possible that this measure may be fur-
ther dissected into more specific sub-constructs, such as
belief in self (Realize that I am strong and can deal with
whatever is bothering me; Try to value myself and not
think so much about other people’s opinions), and hope
(Think about how things will get better in the future; Try to
learn from the bad experience). Agencies aiming to foster
youths’ strengths and resiliencies would benefit from a
measure that establishes a more refined and precise ways of
measuring this coping style.
As such, future research would benefit from refining and
testing this instrument with other samples of homeless
youth using confirmatory factor analysis to determine
whether the same factor structure is supported. This is
particularly important given previous research that sug-
gests heterogeneous homeless youth populations and re-
gional differences in the stressors youth face and related
outcomes (Thompson et al. 2000).
If validated in future work, this instrument could hold
promise for identifying malleable coping strategies. Un-
derstanding youths’ current methods of coping may be
valuable to service agencies as a means of identifying
treatment targets. If, for example, a youth relies primarily
on avoidant coping styles to deal with stressors, agencies
may use skill-building interventions to enhance active and
social coping skills that have been shown to reduce risk for
more serious emotional and behavioral problems (Unger
et al. 1998). Using a valid and culturally-sensitive assess-
ment of these different forms of coping is an essential
starting place to understanding how to help homeless youth
better cope with the stressors of homelessness