Another case of junk science and junk journalism!
It makes common sense to be wary or cautious around or near homeless people! How many homeless people suffer from mental disorders? Why would anyone want to become a victim of a homeless person? Maybe the fears are exaggerated, but not negligible.
So one has to carefully distinguish caution and discrimination!
And what about the lack of courtesy or respect on part of the homeless people towards other people?
The study clearly seems to be flawed by e.g.:
- The examination focused only on past-month/30 days events reported by survey participants.
- Discrimination is very subjective and it is in the eye of the beholder. Thus, research into discrimination requires extraordinary diligence and methodological rigor. Apparently, no attempt was made e.g. to investigate the behavior of the homeless person prior to the reported discrimination or whether the homeless person could have triggered the so called discrimination.
Notice how the UCLA reporting about the study uses the ideological term "unhoused population", while the study itself speaks of "People experiencing homelessness". Nice contrast!
Caveat: I did not read the whole study.
"For the estimated 75,000 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, material hardships are compounded by an alarming level of discrimination and vulnerability to physical and sexual violence, according to a recent study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and colleagues. ...
Of 332 unhoused individuals surveyed for the study, 32% reported being subjected to daily discrimination over the previous month and 54% had experienced discrimination in the previous week. These reported affronts included being threatened or harassed, experiencing less courtesy, receiving poorer service, and being treated as if they weren’t smart or were to be feared. ..."
From the abstract:
"Introduction
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are highly vulnerable to discrimination and violence, which impact physical and mental health. The study examines past-month discrimination and violence against PEH in Los Angeles County (LAC).
Methods
A total of 332 PEH in LAC were surveyed about their past-month experiences with discrimination, physical violence, and sexual violence from April–July 2023. Analyses were conducted in 2023.
Results
31.8% of respondents reported experiencing discrimination daily and 53.9% reported it weekly, whereas rates of lifetime discrimination in studies of general populations of minoritized groups range between 13-60%. Nearly half of respondents who reported experiencing discrimination (49.6%) believed that their housing situation was the reason they were targeted. Victimization was also common, with 16.0% of participants experiencing physical violence and 7.5% experiencing sexual violence in the past 30 days. These rates of past-month victimization are high when compared to past-year physical violence (3.0%) and sexual violence (0.24%) among general populations in major U.S. cities. In multivariate regression analyses, discrimination was associated with being unsheltered in a vehicle (p<0.05) or outdoors (p<0.001), weekly illicit drug use (p<0.01), and psychological distress (p<0.001); violent victimization was associated with being sheltered (p<0.05) or unsheltered outdoors (p<0.001), physical health conditions (p<0.05), and psychological distress (p<0.01); and sexual victimization was associated with non-male gender (p<0.05) and being unsheltered outdoors (p<0.05). Discrimination and victimization outcomes were not associated with any race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or time homeless characteristics.
Conclusions
Study findings highlight the dangers of homelessness in the U.S., particularly for those who are unsheltered outdoors."
L.A. County’s Unhoused Population Faces Alarming Levels of Discrimination and Violence, First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds (original news release) "Research from UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Randall Kuhn and colleagues at UCLA and USC shows the health risk for people experiencing homelessness goes beyond challenges inherent to living without shelter."
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