Falling through the Cracks: Mental Disorder and Social Margin in a Young Vagrant Population

Abstract

Twenty-two percent of a young vagrant population reported on in this study, and believed to be representative of similar groups in many American cities, have been hospitalized for psychological disorder. These young mentally disordered vagrants are the most marginal members of the vagrant subculture, lacking social margin (i.e. resources, relationships, and a credible identity) with their families, community services and their peers. Their critical lack of social margin is due to an incongruence of expectations between disordered vagrants and potential benefactors. This incongruence generates a situation in which apparently eligible clients fall or slip through cracks in the service system. Ultimately, these individuals will become the core of a new chronically disordered and dependent population housed, at best, in community-based sheltered living arrangements as they grow older.