Runaway (dependent)
A runaway is a child or minor who has left their parents or legal guardians without permission. A person who runs away usually does so because of problems in the family.[1] Girls run away more often than boys.[2]
Risk factors
Studies suggest that most children run away for one or more of these reasons:
- Their parents do not care much about them
- There is physical or sexual abuse in the family
- At least one parent is addicted to drugs or alcohol
- There is violence in the family
When the runaway children were asked in a 2007 study, half of them said they had at least one parent who abused alcohol. A third had at least one parent who was addicted to drugs.[3]
After studying runaways in a province of Pakistan, a 2011 journal article concluded that other children gave the runaway the idea to leave home in nearly 9 out of 10 cases (89%).[4]
The likelihood of depression among female runaways is related to family conflict and communication. Depression in male runaways is typically related to the father being an alcoholic and poor family relationships. Negative interactions within the family appear to greatly influence depressive symptoms for both genders.[5]
Problems after running away
According to a 2010 article, about half of the children that run away will no longer go to school.[6] Some will become homeless.
Runaways are at a higher risk of:
- Suffering from depression
- Trying to die by suicide
- Becoming criminals or victims
- Becoming addicted to drugs
- Getting sexually transmitted infections
- Having an unwanted pregnancy
- Being sexually exploited[7]
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (trauma generally begins with runaway's family experiences and worsens with additional traumatic events)[3]
Related pages
References
- ↑ Smollar, 1999; Robertson & Toro, 1998
- ↑ Legislatures, National Conference of State. "Homeless and Runaway Youth". www.ncsl.org. Archived from the original on 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Thompson, Sanna; Maccio, Elaine; Desselle, Sherry; Zittel-Palamara, Kimberly (August 2007). "Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Runaway Youth Utilizing Two Service Sectors". Journal of Traumatic Stress. 20 (4): 553–563. doi:10.1002/jts.20229. PMC 2776719. PMID 17721973.
- ↑ Achakzai, Jahangir Khan (2011). "Causes and Effects of Runaway Children Crisis: Evidence from Balochistan". Pakistan Economic and Social Review. 49 (2): 211–230. JSTOR 23622111.
- ↑ Thompson, Sanna; Bender, Kimberly; Jihye, Kim (February 2011). "Family factors as predictors of depression among runaway youth: do males and females differ?". Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal. 28 (1): 35–48. doi:10.1007/s10560-010-0218-5. S2CID 144636703.
- ↑ "NRS Statistics on Runaways". Nrscrisiline.org. National Runaway Safeline. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
- ↑ Edinburgh, Laurel D.; Garcia, Carolyn M.; Saewyc, Elizabeth M. (February 2013). "It's called "Going out to play": a video diary study of Hmong girls' perspectives on running away". Health Care for Women International. 34 (2): 150–168. doi:10.1080/07399332.2011.645962. PMC 4681540. PMID 23311908.
Other websites
- National Runaway Switchboard for young people in the United States and U.S. Territories
- The Runaway Helpline for young people in the United Kingdom
- Family and Youth Services Bureau Archived 2012-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
- National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth Archived 2018-04-30 at the Wayback Machine