Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey
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Self-esteem<br />
Most of us understand the importance of self-esteem. How we feel about ourselves<br />
powerfully shapes our lives. Our self-esteem is linked to questions like: Are we competent<br />
and determined? Are we able to handle challenging situations? Do we have a sense of<br />
self-worth? Do we feel positive about ourselves? How we answer these kinds of questions<br />
determines what resources we have to navigate life’s challenges, regardless of whether we<br />
are housed or homeless.<br />
In our survey, we asked young people a series of questions related to self-esteem with<br />
scaled responses, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree.’ Participants were<br />
asked to rank the following statements on this scale:<br />
a. I feel proud that I have<br />
accomplished things in life<br />
b. I usually take things in stride<br />
c. I feel that I can handle many things<br />
at a time<br />
d. I am determined<br />
e. I have self-discipline<br />
f. My life has meaning<br />
g. When I’m in a difficult situation, I<br />
can usually find my way out of it<br />
h. On the whole I am satisfied with<br />
myself<br />
i. I feel that I have a number of good<br />
qualities<br />
j. I am able to do things as well as<br />
most people<br />
k. I feel I am a person of worth, at<br />
least on an equal plane with others<br />
l. I take a positive attitude towards<br />
myself<br />
“I am proud of working right<br />
now. And going back to school<br />
in the past two years. I got my<br />
grade 9-10-11.”<br />
In analyzing the data, we organized<br />
responses in terms of levels of self-esteem,<br />
aggregating the responses to all of the 12<br />
statements above:<br />
MAN, 25<br />
86<br />
WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY
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