Leaving home in early youth: Influential factors in running away from home or being thrown out

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to investigate the extent to which youth in Sweden run away from or are thrown out of their homes. A further aim is to determine what conditions lead up to and triggers such a break-up and to see what takes place during the break-up process itself. In our results roughly one in ten of youth in Sweden (≈11%) had experienced a difficult break-up from home by running away or being thrown out. Over 30% of those placed in foster families or institutions had run away from home or been thrown out. By our results, only a minority of runaways do so for the excitement or the fun. The majority made clear that their running away was a flight from the family rather than to something exciting and adventurous. It is also obvious from the results that young people who have run away three or more times are more severely at risk than those who have experienced only one or two break-ups from home. For some of these young people, a breakaway from home is the start, however premature, of an independent adult life. This vulnerable group of young people should be entitled to support from the social welfare system during their transition to adulthood.