Stressful life events among homeless people in León (Nicaragua): Quantity, types, timing, and perceived causality

Abstract

Nicaragua is one of Latin America's least developed countries and has a lack of data on homeless people, a stigmatized group living in extreme poverty. We conducted structured interviews with homeless people living in the city of León (Nicaragua; n = 41) to obtain data on the quantity, types, timing, and perceived causality of stressful life events (SLEs) experienced during their childhood and adolescence as well as throughout their adult lives. The findings showed that our participants had experienced a high number of extremely severe SLEs at very early ages and most of these SLEs occurred before they first became homeless. In terms of the perceived causal relationship between SLEs and homelessness, the interviewees mainly attributed being homeless to material, affective, or relationship factors, or an excessive consumption of alcohol and/or drugs. Suffering from multiple and serious SLEs, largely due to living in socioeconomically disadvantaged environments, appears to be an important vulnerability factor in both becoming homeless and chronic homelessness.

Intersecting Vulnerabilities, Intersectional Discrimination, and Stigmatization Among People Living Homeless in Nicaragua

“…In Nicaragua (a culturally collectivist country, with a medium‐low level of economic and social development), extreme poverty and homelessness are stigmatizing situations, which usually implies high levels of disengagement from the family and community, and significant health problems (Vázquez et al., 2019b). In addition to these circumstances, which are in themselves stigmatizing and give rise to serious discrimination issues, there are ethnic‐racial factors, given that 99.8 percent of the interviewees living homeless in León said they were “non‐white”: 97.7 percent described themselves as “Mestizo” (i.e., mixed race) and 2.1 percent said they were indigenous.…”

“…The vulnerabilities that affect people living homeless in both the developed and developing worlds (Busch‐Geertsema, Culhane, and Fitzpatrick, 2016; Panadero, Guillén, and Vázquez, 2015; Tipple and Speak, 2009; Vázquez et al., 2019a) are increased and enhanced in environments like Nicaragua, a country with one of the lowest levels of development in Latin America (UNDP, 2018). It is culturally collectivist (Vázquez et al., in press), and suffering from a large number of stressful life events of significant severity from a very early age is common among its population (Vázquez et al., 2019b). This issue is particularly pronounced among the country's most disadvantaged groups (Vázquez et al., 2019b).…”

“…It is culturally collectivist (Vázquez et al., in press), and suffering from a large number of stressful life events of significant severity from a very early age is common among its population (Vázquez et al., 2019b). This issue is particularly pronounced among the country's most disadvantaged groups (Vázquez et al., 2019b). Nicaragua also has major shortcomings in its public policies and care programmes for groups experiencing social exclusion to the extent that there is no public care mechanism or programme for people living homeless in the city of León.…”

“…Homelessness is one of the most extreme forms of poverty and social exclusion (Vázquez, Panadero, and Zúñiga, 2017), and a global phenomenon that affects both the developed and developing worlds (Busch‐Geertsema, Culhane, and Fitzpatrick, 2016; Panadero, Guillén, and Vázquez, 2015; Tipple and Speak, 2009; Vázquez et al., 2019a). Regardless of the cultural characteristics and the level of development of the country they live in, people living homeless are subject to multiple intersecting vulnerabilities related to issues such as extreme poverty, lack of social and community support networks, physical and mental health problems, coping with multiple and serious stressful life events, or difficulties in gaining access to the labor market (Panadero, Vázquez, and Martín, 2017; Vázquez, Panadero, and Zúñiga, 2017; Vázquez et al., 2019b, in press). Unfortunately, the way in which someone experiences a disadvantage is inevitably determined by the other disadvantages they suffer from.…”

“…In countries with low levels of economic and social development (which generally have limited and unstable social welfare resources), which are culturally collectivist (where belonging to a few groups, the individual's commitment to their group, harmony and cohesion within the group are all encouraged), homelessness has idiosyncratic characteristics (Vázquez et al., 2019b), and those living homeless may experienced a particularly large number of intersecting vulnerabilities. In culturally collectivist contexts with low levels of economic development, people living homeless can belong to several severely disadvantaged groups simultaneously, and suffer from aggravated forms of intersectional discrimination.…”