NCJ Number
80418
Date Published
1977
Length
35 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from an evaluation of an Ohio intervention program for parents of runaway youth.
Abstract
The research population consisted of parents of missing persons between the ages of 10 and 17 reported in Columbus, Ohio, from September 27, 1974, to January 23, 1976. Parents were assigned to an experimental or control group. The intervention session for the experimental group was structured informally, and discussions were oriented toward interaction among the parents and resource persons from the police department, youth services bureau, the county children's services crisis unit, and the project staff (Youth Flight Project). Parents were encouraged to discuss their own situations, and professional consultants shared information on the roles of various community agencies with services for runaways and their families. Following the open discussion, parents were asked to complete a set of questionnaires with items on family background, parental attitudes regarding family life, and assessment of levels of parent-child conflict. Parents in both the experimental and control groups were contacted by telephone in a followup 3 months after the filing of the missing-persons report. Responses were recorded in a questionnaire which described families' postflight adjustment. The treatment group demonstrated the greatest positive change in the child's school attemdance, positive feelings about self (parents), improved relationships with the child, and increased use of community resources. Tabular data are provided.