A Review of Research on Runaway and Homeless Youth: A Comparison of Trends Between American and South Korean Journals from 2001 to 2010

Abstract

This study attempts to review and compare research trends of 223 articles on homeless youth in American and South Korean journals from 2001 to 2010. 141 articles of 68 journals in the US and 82 articles of 43 journals in South Korea met criteria for inclusion in the review. The finding shows that there has been a continual increase in the number of articles on runaway and homeless youth issues over the last decade in both countries. The result of the analysis by content categories indicates American articles have explored more diverse topics and have focused on addressing the problems, while South Korean articles have focused on understanding the causes of becoming a runaway and offering service provision. The analysis of sampling frames shows American articles have mainly used ‘street youth sampling,’ whereas South Korean articles have utilized ‘shelter youth sampling’. The result of analysis by research methods indicates that ‘descriptive design’ is the most shared common research method across the two countries. These findings highlight the differences between research trends of the two countries. Implications for future research are discussed.