Cal State East Bay Lecturer Publishes Book on Runaway and Homeless Youth

• August 9, 2016 12:00am

Stephen J. Morewitz, a health sciences lecturer at Cal State East Bay and award-winning author and researcher, analyzes up-to-date social and health research about runaway and homeless youth in his newest book, released July 20.

Morewitz’s research, presented in “Runaway and Homeless Youth: New Research and Clinical Perspectives,” is based on results from the national Missing Persons Project. According to Morewitz, MPP is based on more than 1,000 randomly selected missing persons reports in the U.S. that were collected and analyzed. 

“This book offers new insights about the social and behavioral profiles of runaway and homeless children and adolescents when they go missing and live on the streets,” Morewitz said. “It assesses and uses social sciences theories to describe why children and adolescents run away and become victimized.” 

Morewitz said the book also focuses on the ways in which families, schools, health professionals, social services agencies, juvenile detention facilities, foster homes and courts respond to runaway and homeless youth. Legal and policy initiatives are also explored in the research.

Morewitz's “Runaway and Homeless Youth” is his third book on health and behavioral problems facing children and adolescents. An author or co-author of 11 books and three forthcoming books, Morewitz is also co-editor of the award-winning “Handbook of Forensic Sociology and Psychology.” 

He is currently collaborating with two CSUEB nursing and health sciences faculty members, including principal investigator Elbina Rafizadeh, R.N., M.S.N. and ​Arnab Mukherja​, Ph.D., in a study of self-expression among CSUEB students who were foster youth. In 2014, Morewitz founded the Forensic Social Sciences Association. In addition, in 1988, he founded Stephen J. Morewitz, Ph.D., & Associates, a full-service consulting firm located in Chicago.