A new study found that 60 percent of homeless youths have been beaten, assaulted, raped or abused, Huffington Post reported.

The study was funded by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families and conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The ACF announced a campaign with music icon Cyndi Lauper on Wednesday, in order to address the issues in the findings. The "Ending Youth Homelessness: A Call to Action" event was aimed at discussing the research, which studied 656 youths, aged 14 to 21 years old, in 11 cities.

The study highlighted findings about first-time homeless teens, who are often asked to leave the home or are abandoned by a parent or guardian.

On average, the youth became homeless for the first time at age 15, and spent at least two years on average on the streets, according to the study. At least 30 percent of those in the study who were beaten or abused identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual, and about 7 percent identified as transgender.

The number of homeless children is also hard to identify, and one of the most recent attempts found 46,924 unaccompanied children and youth on a single night in January 2013.

The event where the results of the study were announced was done to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, which commits funding for homeless youth programs across the country.

The ACF's Family & Youth Services Bureau has an outreach program that helped with this study, but said that none of the children in the study were receiving aid from the FYSB at the time.

The problem of youth homelessness is worsening in the U.S., and keeping track of the kids through the education system has aided the government in some of the tracking.

The Department of Education released a report in September which found a record number of homeless children in the 2012-2013 school year.

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