Predictors of runaway behavior in adolescent Saudi girls

Abstract

The phenomenon of girls running away from home is an increasingly widespread social challenge confronted by families, welfare agencies, and governmental organizations in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia. This study compared runaway girls and a control group on various measures and investigated the predictors of runaway behavior among Saudi adolescent girls. A sample of young adolescent girls (N = 77, aged between 14 and 21 years) included a purposive sample of runaways (N = 33), comprised of all the girls living in a social care home in Jeddah who had left their homes at least once, and a control group (N = 44) selected via cluster sampling. The participants were assessed using a demographic questionnaire, the Family Cohesion Scale, and the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale. Inter-group differences were apparent and differences were also found based on the circumplex model. The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis showed six variables (family cohesion, age, education, number of sisters, number of brothers, and birth order) that remained and explained 80.82% of group membership variation. Lack of family cohesion, along with several demographic variables, can lead to complicated emotional attitudes among adolescent girls which trigger runaway behavior. Although runaway youth services must continue to stay focused on safety and short-term residential care, the underlying causal factors must be identified as well.