Attentional Limitations in Doing Two Tasks at the Same Time

44 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2, APRIL 1992 other highly mobile, disadvantaged children without added resources. Researchers have an important role to play in providing information to guide policy and evaluate programs. Although a number of studies have been conducted and more are under way, there are major gaps in the knowledge base. Little is known about the processes leading to or out of homelessness or the factors that ameliorate risk and facilitate better outcomes for children and their families. Most studies include heterogeneous samples of homeless families that differ markedly in background and current status on many dimensions that may be crucial for understanding causes and outcomes and for developing strategies to reduce the risks of becoming homeless or ameliorate its effects on parents and children. There is also a great need for information on the welfare of unaccompanied minors and how homeless runaways and abandoned children differ from or resemble homeless adolescents who stay with their families. In addition, there is a profound shortage of normative data on the development of ethnic minority children and of appropriately standardized measures for use with lowincome or minority children. Normative data on the development of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations of children would provide the context for understanding developmental problems among homeless and other high-risk populations. Finally, it is clear that isolated efforts, whether in the domain of research, policy, or intervention, limited to one place, one discipline, or one perspective, are inadequate to meaningfully address the complex problem of homeless children. Coordinated, multifaceted efforts are required at each level in each domain of inquiry and action. Helping homeless children and preventing homelessness may also depend on national acceptance of the idea that poor children belong to all of us. Certainly, their development will affect all of our futures.