Not all homeless women are alike: effects of motherhood and the presence of children.

Previous work suggests that the population of homeless women is a heterogeneous group, and that motherhood and the presence or absence of children define sub-groups that may be distinct. The current study is a systematic study of 300 homeless women (90% of whom were mothers) according to these suggested sub-groupings. Mothers whose children were with them, compared to other women, were younger and often unemployed and welfare dependent. Mothers without their children had higher rates of nonsubstance Axis I disorders (48%) and alcoholism (33%), and 72% had a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis. Homeless mothers whose children are not with them represent a deviant subgroup with more personal (and fewer social) vulnerabilities to homelessness and may represent a target population for focus of psychiatric treatment efforts. Mothers with their children may benefit more from increased attention to social services.