Families of Homeless and Runaway Adolescents: A Comparison of Parent/Caretaker and Adolescent Perspectives on Parenting, Family Violence, and Adolescent Conduct

• NCJ Number: 175119
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 21 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1997 Pages: 517-528
• Author(s): L B Whitbeck; D R Hoyt; K A Ackley
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH501140
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article compares runaway and homeless adolescent reports and parent/caretaker reports on measures of parenting, family violence and adolescent conduct.

Abstract

This study compared reports of 120 runaway adolescents and their parents/caretakers on measures of parental monitoring, parental warmth and supportiveness, parental rejection, physical and sexual abuse, and adolescent conduct. Comparison groups of nonrunaway adolescents and their mothers from the same geographical area were also used for parenting and adolescent conduct measures. Adults' and adolescents' reports were in the same direction and presented similar portraits of families of runaway and homeless young people: lower levels of parental monitoring and warmth and supportiveness and higher levels of parental rejection than comparison groups; and high levels of family violence and sexual abuse. These findings suggest that runaway and homeless adolescents accurately depict the troubled family situations that they choose to leave. The article discusses the policy implications for debates involving criminalization and mandatory return to parental custody of homeless and runaway youth. Tables, references