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PROBLEM: Large numbers of teenagers become "runaways" and put themselves at risk for physical and emotional harm. During the year 2002, an estimated 1.6 million U.S. youth aged 12 to 17 had run away from home and slept on the streets.
METHODS: A qualitative exploratory method was used to study a sample of primarily ethnic minority youth found in a Midwestern inner city detention center. This study examined run behavior from the teenager's own perspective to identify why they ran, how they kept themselves safe, and what factors contributed to ending a run.
FINDINGS: Teens ran to gain control of their lives by changing their situation. They developed new affiliations to meet safety and sustenance needs and learned from experience that one cannot run from your problems. With experience, running became habitual.
CONCULSIONS: Safer alternatives are needed for youth who cannot live at home.
Search terms: Runaway teenagers, gangs, street survival
Despite the many risks and often grievous consequence of habitual run behavior, it remains an acceptable option for too many of our youth. During the year 2002, an estimated 1.6 million U.S. youth aged 12 to 17 had run away from home and slept on the streets (Office of Applied Studies, 2003). Teens that run away from home rarely have an effective support system and lack needed assistance, resources, and coping strategies for problem solving and conflict resolution.
The provocations for running away are diverse and distressing, ranging from running to escape physical, emotional, and sexual abuse to having been thrown out of their homes (termed throwaways) by parents unable to cope with their child's substance abuse or sexual orientation (MacLean, Embry, & Cauce, 1999; Rew, Taylor-Seehafer, Thomas, & Yockey, 2001; Whitbeck, Hoyt, & Ackley, 1997). Runaways leave home in search of safety, independence, or a less restrictive environment, a reality that few successfully achieve. Most of these youth are revictimized on the streets (Clatts, Davis, Sotheran, & Atillasoy, 1998). They attempt to survive while engaging in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex, drug use, and survival sex (Greene, Ennett, & Ringwalt, 1999). Such behaviors placed these youth at greater risk for victimization by both known (friend/acquaintance) and unknown (stranger) assailants (Tyler, Whitbeck, Hoyt, & Cauce, 2004). The often brutal reality of street...