Running Away during Adolescence as a Precursor to Adult Homelessness

Abstract

Hundreds of thousands of youth run away every year, yet little consideration has been given to the long-term effects of living on the street during the formative adolescent years. Past research has established that chronic runaways are largely fleeing from recurrent parental abuse. As a consequence of socialization both at home and on the streets, chronic runaways might be expected to have a difficult time adjusting to conventional adult roles. Hence, it is posited that many chronic runaways grow up to become homeless adults and that these individuals display higher rates of criminal behavior, substance abuse, and other forms of deviant behavior than the homeless characterized by more culturally normative childhoods. This thesis was tested using two samples: one composed of 84 adolescent runaways and a second of 266 homeless adults. The results largely support the hypothesis.