NCJ Number
146062
Date Published
1979
Length
17 pages
Annotation
In 1961, a group of social scientists began working with juvenile authorities in Prince George's County, Maryland, to assess the extent of the runaway problem; several years later, an effort was made to track down some of the runaways and determine how they were coping as young adults.
Abstract
The initial sample of runaways included 750 youths, and followup contact was made with 14. Youths in the larger sample were generally between 16 and 17 years of age and from the middle class. Runaway children had more school performance problems than the general youth population. Followup interviews with the 14 youths revealed that social class seemed to provide a context in which the original act of running away was interpreted by the subject and by his or her family. Seven of the 14 had run away from home more than once. Academic failure had a significant impact on young adult status; lacking self-discipline, constructive work habits, and work skills, runaways were at a serious disadvantage compared to other young adults. Runaways generally had blue collar jobs, as compared to their nonrunaway siblings who generally had college or advanced degrees. In addition, runaways earned significantly less than their siblings. Work patterns of repeat runaways demonstrated their difficulties in coping as young adults; only one repeat runaway had a regular job, while the others had intermittent work histories. Many of the runaways experienced severe problems in forming and maintaining meaningful personal relationships. In general, young adult outcomes of the 14 runaways appeared to be filtered through social class. 1 reference and 4 tables