UNDERAGE INDIGENTS: PERSONAL AND COMMUNITARIAN FACTORS RELATED WITH THE STREET LIFE

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test a behavioral ecologic model. 2 samples were used, one composedby minor indigents and the other by school students. Both samples were matched by family income, ageand gender. The model was tested using a confirmatory multisample analysis. The findings were: theexosystem was composed of antisocial behavior, addictive behavior and communitarian violence. Themicrosystem was composed of intrafamiliar violence, father’s physical violence and mother’s physicalviolence. The ontosystem was formed of impulsivity, external control locus and the minor’s perceptionabout the indigence. The minor indigence factor was composed of minor’s indigence behavior, minor’santisocial behavior and minor’s addictive behavior. Both groups were compared and it was observedthat the model’s structure was equivalent. The proposed model has “adjust goodness”; the R2 associatedto minor indigence indicates the factors (exosystem and ontosystem) explains the 36% of the variancefor the minor indigence factor. The exosystem exert positive and direct influence over the microsystem(positive and direct over the minor indigence factor). For the group of minor indigents the individualand communitarian factors influence in the minor indigence factor; in the case of the no-indigent minorsgroup the factors which exert influence are the individual factor and family factor.