Impact of family abuse on running away, deviance, and street victimization among homeless rural and urban youth

Abstract

Problem -Various demographic and familial risk factors have been linked to runaway behavior. To date, there has not been a systematic investigation of the impact of size of community on runaway behavior. This study will compare runaways from smaller cities and rural areas to their urban counterparts. Methods -A convenience sample of 602 adolescents was interviewed between 1995 and August of 1996 in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, USA. Multiple regression was used to examine the association between gender, neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, geographic and family structure change, and community size of first runaway to predict age at first runaway, deviant subsistence strategies, and street victimization. Results -Findings indicate that adolescents exposed to neglect (β = −.20) and sexual abuse (β = −.16) ran away sooner and were more likely to be victimized on the street. Rural adolescents who experienced higher levels of physical abuse relied more heavily on deviant subsistence strategies (β = .15) and remained in abusive homes longer (β = .15) than their similarly situated urban counterparts. Conclusions -Rural youth who have been subjected to elevated levels of familial abuse are at greater risk of deviant subsistence strategies, which increase the likelihood of street victimization.

A Comparison between the Attachment Styles and Mate-Selection Criteria in Urban and Rural Girls

“…Whitbeck et al (1999) maintain children and teenagers growing up in unorganized families, or those sexually abused will eventually run away from home and may be drawn into prostitution. Also, in their research, Thrane et al (2006), showed families' abusing children is one of the affective factors in running away.…”

Rough living: Surviving violence & homelessness

“…Familial physical and sexual abuse have been widely reported in Australian and international literature as a central and even repeated experience for young homeless people in particular (see, for example, Downing-Orr 1996; Hatty, Davis & Burke 1996, p. 50;Janus et al 1995;Rew, Taylor-Seehafer & Fitzgerald 2001). Studies have revealed that over 70 per cent of young homeless women and 30 per cent of young homeless men can be expected to be survivors of sexual abuse and that over 70 per cent of young homeless men and 30 per cent of young homeless women can be expected to be survivors of physical abuse (Thrane et al 2006;Whitbeck, Hoyt & Bao 2000).…”

“…1886Kushel et al 2003Kushel et al , p. 2498Molnar et al 1998, p. 219;North, Smith & Spitznagel 1994, p. 107;Tyler et al 2001, p. 152). In turn, all of these factors have clearly been linked to the future likelihood of involvement in violence (as both victims and perpetrators) with partners and peers, of sexual and physical revictimisation, and also of homelessness (Larney et al 2009, p. 350;Taylor & Sharpe 2008, p. 211;Thrane et al 2006Thrane et al , p. 1125Tyler et al 2001, pp. 167-68;Tyler, Melander & Noel 2009, pp.…”

“…A concern for most researchers has been to generate nationally comparative rates of victimisation for those homeless in order to evidence and highlight their alarmingly disproportionate experience of violence. Studies are commonly split in their concentration on either homeless people's experiences of childhood victimisation within family homes (Janus et al 1995;Thrane et al 2006) or their experiences of victimisation within recent periods of homelessness (Alder 1991;Ballintyne 1999;Gaetz 2004;Kipke et al 1997;Larney et al 2009;Newburn & Rock 2005), though a few offer epidemiologic overviews of lifetime experiences of trauma and violence (Buhrich, Hodder & Teesson 2000;North, Smith & Spitznagel 1994;Taylor & Sharpe 2008). Further, many researchers focus on the experience of a particular form of violent victimisation and its relationship to homelessness, for example, domestic and family violence (Browne 1993;Tually et al 2008), childhood sexual and physical abuse (Tyler et al 2001;Wenzel, Koegel & Gelberg 2000), and rape and sexual assault (Goodman, Fels & Glenn 2006;Morrison 2009;Wenzel, Leake & Gelberg 2001. In contrast, this project aimed to develop a qualitative overview of the cyclical and enmeshed relationship of violence and homelessness and to examine the context and impact of violence throughout the life paths of those who become homeless.…”

Young People Who Have Been Maltreated: Different Needs--Different Responses?

“…As children get older they become more mobile, come into contact with a wider social network and face a whole range of different social and environmental risks outside the family to younger children (Rees et al, 2010). Earlier maltreatment experiences and/or poor experiences of parenting during childhood and adolescence have often been shown to be linked to increased vulnerability and later risk taking behaviours, 3 such as running away, sexual exploitation, and substance misuse (Safe on the Streets Research Team, 1999;Bancroft et al, 2004;Rees and Lee, 2005;Smith et al, 2005;Thrane et al, 2006;Coy, 2009;Peled and Cohavi, 2009). Young people are also more likely to experience changes in family structure and this may play a part in terms of increased stress within families.…”