NCJ Number
168598
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1997) Pages: 267-290
Date Published
1997
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study examined aggravated and sexual assault victimizations among 240 runaway and homeless adolescents in Des Moines, Iowa.
Abstract
Unlike previous research studies on homeless and runaway adolescents that used small samples, limiting these samples to persons in youth shelters or to the use of clinical data, the current study contacted homeless and runaway adolescents where they congregated and lived. Study instruments and interviews solicited information on parental physical abuse, parental sexual abuse, deviant peers, length of time away from home, deviant subsistence strategies, aggravated assault victimization, and sexual assault victimization. A social learning approach to victimization was used to show that deviant behavior among adolescents directly relates to coercive, aggressive, harsh, and abusive parental behavior. The results partially support the proposition that homeless and runaway adolescents are at risk of life-threatening situations on the streets (aggravated and sexual assaults) due to aggressive and abusive parents. In addition, there are strong indications that the street life of homeless and runaway adolescents has significant impacts on the probability that they will become assaulted aggravatedly and/or sexually. Policy implications are discussed. 8 tables and 51 references