Table 1 presents the characteristics of the participants. Twenty individuals between 21 and 62 years old participated in the study, out of whom 13 were men (one transgender), and seven were women (two transgenders). As regards family configuration, most of the participants were from large families (more than three siblings) and most of them had one child or more. More than half of the participants did not have a job (12), and out of that number only one did not receive any aid from the government. The ones who reported working (8) had informal jobs, such as delivering fliers. Most of them, however, also reported having government aid. The majority of the respondents were single.
Table 1
Characterization of the Participants
Respondents | Age | Sexual Orientation1 | Work | Income Source | Children | Living in the Street | Marital Status | Number of Siblings | |
Respondent 1 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | Yes | Government Aid | 0 | Street Friends | Single | 12 | |
Respondent 2 | 31–40 | Homosexual | No | Government Aid | 0 | Partner | Cohabiting | 3 | |
Respondent 3 | 31–40 | Homosexual | No | Government Aid | 0 | Street Friends | Engaged | 1 | |
Respondent 4 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | Yes | Work | 2 | Alone | Single | 2 | |
Respondent 5 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | Yes | Work | 0 | Alone | Widowed | 10 | |
Respondent 6 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 0 | Street Friends | Single | 1 | |
Respondent 7 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 0 | Alone | Single | 5 | |
Respondent 8 | 31–40 | Homosexual | Yes | Work | 3 | Partner | Married | 7 | |
Respondent 9 | 41–50 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 5 | Alone | Single | 1 | |
Respondent 10 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | Yes | Work | 0 | Alone | Single | 6 | |
Respondent 11 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | No | Pension | 3 | Street Friends | Divorced | 8 | |
Respondent 12 | 51–60 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 1 | Street Friends | Separated | 6 | |
Respondent 13 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 5 | Shelter | Single | 4 | |
Respondent 14 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | No | No | 3 | Alone | Single | 5 | |
Respondent 15 | 31–40 | Heterosexual | Yes | Work | 3 | Alone | Single | 3 | |
Respondent 16 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 1 | Partner | Single | 5 | |
Respondent 17 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 4 | Partner | Cohabiting | 0 | |
Respondent 18 | 51–60 | Heterosexual | No | Government Aid | 3 | Shelter | Single | 15 | |
Respondent 19 | 20–30 | Heterosexual | Yes | Work | 1 | Shelter | Separated | 11 | |
Respondent 20 | 51–60 | Heterosexual | Yes | Government Aid | 2 | Shelter | Separated | 6 | |
1 The definitions of gender, transsexuality and sexual orientation were based on the article of Joan Scott and a manual of theoretical concepts on this issue (33, 34) |
Based on the analysis of the life cycles, four themes emerged from the data relative to the histories and life trajectories of the participants. Figure 1 shows the theme map with its respective themes and subthemes subdivided by life cycle. The themes that stood out from the data were described and organized according to the life cycles: 1- Childhood; 2 - Adolescence; 3 -Adulthood; 4 – Cross-cutting Factors.
Theme 1: Childhood
Subtheme 1.1: Instability in upbringing
About half of the participants reported a history of instability in their upbringing during childhood. They described it as having recurring rearrangements of the family structure. Most of them stated having been taken care of sometimes by their parents, sometimes by their grandparents and/or uncles and aunts, or even by other relatives or godparents. In some cases, those rearrangements were described as a very painful experience, often associated with a sense of rejection. In general, those instabilities were justified by the separation or death of the parents, mental disorders, or substance use by the caregivers.
“Because I don’t accept, until today I don’t accept [as a reference to mother] that she didn’t raise me [...] left me at my grandmother’s to go to a dance one weekend and never went back to pick me up! [...] My grandmother raised me with a lot of love and care, but I don’t understand, I don’t get it, I have the view that where one can eat, two can eat; where one starves, two can starve.” (Respondent 10)
“So [...]from the age of 9 to 9 and a half, I lived with my godparents in Brasília [...]. After that I went to a boarding school where I stayed until I was 15.” (Respondent 3)
Subtheme 1.2: Abuse and Violence
The respondents reported having suffered violence, mostly physical. The accounts highlight assaults within the family, many of which committed by a family member (usually the father) under the effect of some substance.
“And my father at the time snorted, drank, then he would get home aggressive, hit my mother! [...] Then when he arrived he was in the crave, wanting money from my mother, he would hit my mother, then once he grabbed me and hit me, because I started to cry, you know, then he slapped me on the face, then after this day I began to hate him, when I was six I already hated my father.” (Respondent 16)
“Then, when I was little, my mother hit us a lot, you know? It was for us to rise in life, you know? [...] My way of thinking, you see? My family is kind of complicated. (Respondent 5)
Subtheme 1.3: Absent or Little Present Father
We observed in the reports about childhood that the respondents did not mention experiencing life with their fathers. On the other hand, they highlighted the role of the female figure (mother or grandmother) in their upbringing. Many of them reported not having met their father or having had little contact with him.
“My mother was a single mother” (Respondent 2)
“My father I didn’t even meet!” (Respondent 9)
“And my father, he wasn’t very present, he was in prison more often than not, he spent most of his life in prison than out of it, so he didn’t keep up with my growing much.” (Respondent 10)
Theme 2: Adolescence
They reported several difficulties regarding fragile school and work relationships during adolescence. Sexuality started too early, mainly for the girls. Family problems resulting from a compromised childhood also stood out. Within this theme, four subthemes emerged from the data.
Subtheme 2.1: School Dropout and Failure
More than half the respondents declared having dropped out of school during adolescence, most of whom having done so during elementary school. There were also reports of failing and history of participation in school equivalency courses. Those events mentioned by the interviewees resulted mainly from factors associated with the use of psychoactive substances and low grades.
“I stopped in the fifth, sixth grade, I was doing the third phase. [...] That’s when I got lost, I started to have low grades, I even flunked like three times” (Respondent 7)
“Well, I studied up to the eighth grade, the first, I did equivalency, the second I didn’t finish!” (Respondent 4)
“Interviewer: And you studied up to which grade?
Respondent 16: Up to the eighth grade.
Interviewer: And what happened that you could not finish your studies?
Respondent 16: Crack!” (Respondent 16)
Subtheme 2.2: Acceptance of Gender and Sexual Orientation
Another factor that emerged from the data was difficulty of social and family acceptance regarding sexual orientation and gender, and its impact on their own acceptance. The respondents described prejudice imposed by society and family before they reached their own acceptance.
“When I was 16, I admitted and accepted myself as homosexual, you know, I think it is particularly important! No, it was from 15 to 16, plus that I had psychological problems because of that, because I didn’t accept myself [...] (Respondent 3)
“There was also a time when I didn’t accept myself, when I didn’t know if it was this that I wanted, you know? [...] It was the time of the closet, I was in the closet![...] And they would tease me, and I didn’t like it, then I would start fighting.[...]Then as time went by I started accepting myself, then I began not to care anymore!” (Respondent 7)
Subtheme 2.3: Birth of First Child
A considerable number of participants stated having had their first child during adolescence. The main reports were from women who declared having given birth in the early adolescence. Some also had their other children in this period of life.
“I had my daughter when I was 15 [...]” (Respondent 8)
“My daughter was born when I was 17 to 18.” (Respondent 15)
“So, when I was 16, I got pregnant with my first child. [...] We were together for one year [ex-partner], then we were apart for some time, then we went back together, and I got pregnant with my second child.” (Respondent 14)
Subtheme 2.4: Unions and Marriages
The union or marriage of very young intimate partners is a usual and accepted practice. Women deserve special attention, as they account for the majority. For some, the reason for the union was associated with the fact that the family forced the wedding because of the pregnancy.
“After that I went back to Paraíba again, then, when I was 14, I got married!” (Respondent 8)
“[...] one week before I turned 18, they [family] found out I was pregnant and forced me to marry him.” (Respondent 4)
“Then the stuff was crazy, then I started staying on the street, then I started working, I got married.
Interviewer: How old were you when you got married?
“17 going to 18.” (Respondent 19)
Theme 3 - Adulthood
The respondents stated having become homeless in that period of life. We observed difficulties in their family relationships, both regarding their nuclear family and the family they raised. Two other sub-themes detected regarded health problems and drug trafficking and prostitution.
Sub-theme 3.1: Estrangement or Conflicting Relatioship with Family
One of the first factors to stand out in the data regarded family issues, as the estrangement or conflicting relations with their nuclear family, or sometimes both. As for their the families they raised, their talk was related to the loss of contact with their children, mainly because of separation from their spouses. Several participants stressed the psychological impact of this estrangement from their children, which triggered depression and, later, their moving to the street. The reasons stated in this sub-theme were the use of alcohol and other drugs, as well as the sexual orientation, which the family did not accept and fights.
“Me, my stepfather, we don’t talk for three years. In the house, [...] I am the last to eat, he fights a lot, humiliates a lot, he already humiliated me a lot, too.” (Respondent 6)
“[...] it’s about 3 years since I talked to them [the two sons], with my daughter I talk sometimes by Facebook.” (Respondent 8)
“[asked about the most important facts from the participant’s 40’s to 50’s] It was through the separation from her, you know, that I began to get lost for good, you know..., a depression hit and I was lost, you see what I mean? [...] But even today it is very difficult for me to be far from my children for ten years” (Respondent 9)
Subtheme 3.2: Health Problems
More than half the respondents described physical and mental health problems. Some reported being serum positive. There were also accounts of physical problems caused by accidents. The reports of mental health problems regarded depression and substance use.
[As a reference to HIV] “When I was 17, I caught it, when I found out I was 18, 17 to 18! (Respondent 3)
“[...] then I fell into a very deep depression, I let go, abandoned my job, locked my house, and decided to leave for São Paulo.” (Respondent 14)
“I was run over, lost my prosthesis, lost my glasses. [...] lost my tooth, then it was the domino effect, lost my grind, lost the house, [...], lost the life that God gave me [...]” (Respondent 20)
Subtheme 3.3: Trafficking and Prostitution
Some respondents revealed having worked with drug trafficking and prostitution. To some, those two conditions started in adolescence. To most of them, however, they emerged in adulthood. Prostitution was more closely related to the women and the homosexual participants. Due to the need to survive plus the lack of perspective for the future, a significant number of the participants used those precarious forms of work to generate some income.
“Then I knew that the only way to come to São Paulo, of course I had other means to come to São Paulo, but the easiest way to come was to prostitute myself, come to prostitute myself.” [...] As I wanted to come quickly, in the easiest way.” [...] Then I had to set my mind that I had to prostitute myself, when I was eighteen.” (Respondent 7)
“Trafficked, got it? Had a lot of women, a had money, I thought I had power, and I did. Only that then, I wasn’t noticing I was gradually destroying myself [...]” (Respondent 6)
“[...] I was arrested for drug trafficking, I started trafficking because I was unemployed.” (Respondent 1)
Theme 4: Cross-cutting Factors to Life Cycles
Cross-cutting factors emerged from the data that permeated the three periods of development. Those subthemes were also observed in the themes mentioned above. Some respondents reported having experienced situations related to death and substance use in childhood or early adolescence.
Subtheme 4.1: Deaths
The reports highlight grief for the deaths of close people (mainly parents and grandparents) with a bond of dependence (relationship or income) from the respondents. This subtheme was one of those that presented high intensity, as it often elicited a sequence of significant changes in the life of the participant.
“Well, my family life from 0 to 10 years of age, I lost my father when I was 4, my mother when I was 6, my grandmother when I was 8, it was a sequence.” (Respondent 3)
“It was soon, when my mother passed away, [around the age of 40], because my mother, I was everything, you know, I earned, I didn’t earn, but it was everything, [...] and then the guys, when my mother passed away, threw me out of the house, my brothers, you know, then my father left with me at the time, [...] I took good care of my mother, when she was about to die, before she died my mother had two strokes.” (Respondent 20)
Subtheme 4.2: Substance Abuse or Dependence
There were reports of relatives with a history of substance abuse, with alcohol and crack use standing out. We observed a history of several admissions, in many cases to therapeutic communities.
“At 19 years old I started to use cocaine, and three years ago I started to use crack [..] It was then that I really started living on the street...”. (Respondent 14)
“Why I lost my job? Because I didn’t smoke during the week, I started to smoke, I started to miss work, [...] then it gets to a point when it’s enough, you know, then I was fired.” (Respondent 10)
“She put me in a clinic there in Taubaté! [...]. But I ran away! [...] Because I couldn’t take that humiliation any longer, medication, medication, medication...! (Respondent 11)