Parental Bonding Styles in Relation to Adolescent Males’ Runaway Behavior

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between runaway behavior and the quality of parental attachment, or parental bonding style, among a sample of 159 incarcerated adolescent males. Participants completed the Demographic and Descriptive Inventory (DADI) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and provided responses to the question, "Have you ever run away from home and stayed overnight?" Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that participants' reports of running away were significantly correlated with fathers' affectionless control (r = .18, p = .02) and mothers' affectionless control (r = .20, p = .013). Binary logistic regression suggested that affectionless control by either parent significantly predicted a participant's running away from home (x2 = 12.69, df = 6, p < .05). These results indicate that the quality of these youths' parental attachment is an important factor in their decisions about whether to run away from home, suggesting that parental bonding style may be a potential risk factor for running away from home.