Social networks, social support, and survival on the streets: An exploratory study of the survival strategies of Bangladeshi street youth

About half a million youth -- between the ages of 7 and 17 -- roam the streets of major urban centers in Bangladesh, overcoming unprecedented challenges to survive. They experience overwhelming poverty, dangerous living conditions, daily hassles and threats to their safety, and in many cases an absence of familial care and protection. The numbers of street youth in Bangladesh are increasing at a fast pace raising questions about the effectiveness of government and civil society efforts to curb their numbers. Importantly, knowledge about the survival efforts of these youth is limited, leaving a considerable vacuum for policymakers and service agencies to devise effective interventions. In an effort to fill this knowledge gap, this dissertation project explores the survival strategies of a sample of street youth in Dhaka, Bangladesh.;This dissertation starts from the premise that street youth do not passively succumb to their negative social environments, but rather actively respond through active engagement with other street youth and adults, whom they meet on the street through ad-hoc work and living arrangements. In particular, the dissertation posits that street youth are embedded in social networks of support and that the management of these relationships is critical to their daily economic and psychological survival. Drawing from the social networks literature, the study considers the tangible and intangible resources that pass through network ties and that are essential for mediating risk and vulnerability as well as facilitating problem-solving skills, motivation and other coping strategies among youth. In particular, this qualitative study investigates how 75 homeless youth in the capital city of Bangladesh form social relationships on the street as well as how they use these relationships to garner resources in an effort to meet economic and health needs.;The findings suggest that street youth form and maintain social relationships on the street and rely on them extensively for everyday survival. These networks serve as important sources of information that help them find subsistence jobs in the country's dominant informal economic sector. Network members train friends and peers for jobs and street survival, and are the source of informal job referrals, advocating that informal employers hire one another. Emotional and instrumental supports are also provided in the form of counseling, positive reinforcement, socializing, and gifts of food and petty cash which are all important means for street youth to overcome the hazards of informal jobs and life on the street. Findings also demonstrate that street youth experience frequent accidental injuries and repeated episodes of sickness. Social network members, especially other youth, help devise a treatment plan, accompany them to treatment centers, buy medicine and nurse sick youth. Youth network members bear most treatment, food and other expenses and rarely expect immediate repayment. Network support is extensive for short-term sickness, but decreases as sickness lingers. Caregivers also struggle to balance their own life and work while engaged in caregiving practices with, in some cases, evidence of detrimental effects on friendship ties.;These findings suggest that youth on the street have agency, specific competencies, and particular coping strategies related to their circumstances. The findings from the study are likely to enrich the country's knowledge-base on social issues. As well, these findings in the context of limited formal service availability offer insights to develop interventions for organizations working with street youth.