Runaways: A Brief Summary And Analysis

The correlation of mental health and substance use in adolescence is very problematic. Many believe that the relationship between the two are so strong that it plays a causative role in the development of adolescents. It places adolescents at risk for problems within their families, communities, and as an individual. This disease can be severe enough that it impairs the adolescent 's ability to function as a person. Both mental health and substance abuse are entangled within one another, that it makes it difficult to decipher which condition is causing each symptom. However, several research studies concluded that adolescents who suffer from mental illness may self-medicate their symptoms by using drugs. The juvenile justice systems suffer from adolescents with mental health disorders, substance abuse or even both.

For centuries, teenagers have fought with their parents over the amount of freedom they should have. Parents always fight to reel in their child’s freedom, while teens argue that they need more privileges. While parents certainly have an argument in protecting their kids from the big, scary world, ultimately teenagers need to be exposed to the dangers of everyday life in order to prepare them for entering it on their own. If they have no real-life experience, they cannot be expected to handle it well when they leave their parents’ houses. In order to teach kids responsibility and life skills, kids should be allowed freedom to work and be out on their own, but have certain restrictions on a case-to-case basis in terms of curfews and household obligations.

An estimated 9.2 million to 15.8 million children are considered "at-risk" in this country encompassing all ages from 13 to 19 years old. These youth are at-risk because they are at a crossroad: one leads to successful transition to adulthood, the other to dependency and negative long-term consequences. Youth typically considered or identified as at-risk are more likely to become pregnant, use drugs and/or alcohol, drop out of school, be unemployed, engage in violence and face an increased likelihood of a host of mental health problems, which in turn places them at high risk for entering the juvenile and criminal justice system.

Homeless youth face an abundance of challenges, especially if they are on their own, such as finding food, shelter, income, and potential medical expenses. Some youth experience additional hardship by facing the effects of abuse they endured at their previous place of residence. According to the National Conference of State Legislators (2013) 46 percent of runaway and homeless youth reported physical abuse, 38 percent reported emotional abuse, and 17 percent reported being forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or household member. Therefore, the chances of emotional vulnerability are high.

Growing up with substance abuse parents can potentially put the children at risk for developmental deficiencies. Parents who are substance dependent are oftentimes focus on themselves over their children, and this leads to neglecting the children. Without the attachment with the parents, children are lack of security and trust to explore the outside world. According to Erik Erikson, children develop at different stage. Infants are totally dependent on their parents. If parents provide the good care and support to the children, they will develop the basic trust to their parents and the world, otherwise, they will feel insecure and develop mistrust instead. This mistrust may cause problems later in life. As children begin to grow and navigate the challenges of adolescence, parental substance abuse has a direct impact on their well-being, as well as their behavior. Teenagers are eager to seek their identities. Yet, growing up with mistrust, inferiority, and shame

In the video “The Lost Children of Rockdale County” produced by Dretzin and Goodman in 1999, portrays the life of teenagers engaging in peer delinquency, sexual behavior, and drugs and alcohol consumption. The video portrays the life of Nicole a 14 year old female who had engaged in sexual behavior, delinquent activity and lived under lack pf parental supervision. The General Theory of Crime and Delinquency is defined as “Motivations for crime include reinforcements for criminal activity, exposure to successful criminal models, learnijng beliefs favorable to crime” (Frailing & Harper, 2013. p.156). Robert Agnew’s theory can be related into Nicole’s life, because the environment in which she grew clearly affected the five domains explained in the theory. The family domain was affected because Cindy’s (Nicole’s mother) lack of parental attachment during Nicole’s infancy affected the relationship. Nicole argues that she started to engage in a risky behavior because she wanted to obtain her mother’s attention because her mother worked full time and didn’t had time to monitor her behavior.

Adolescence is a critical time of development. During this period there are significant changes in brain development, emotions, cognition, behavior, and personal relationships. It is during this time that most major mental health disorders appear, many of which carry over into adulthood. Behavior patterns such as substance abuse also often develop during this time and may continue throughout adulthood. Many adolescents struggling with mental health issues begin to exhibit symptoms such as acting out at home or in school, showing a decreased interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, or bringing home poor grades. Others ultimately are charged with offenses ranging from status

An estimated amount of 1.6 million adolescents run away from home each year in the U.S alone.(Adolescence 266) Their parents maybe drug addicts or alcoholics, but most likely they are overbearing, controlling, authoritarian parents. The conflict is normally blamed upon the huge generation gap between parent and adolescent. The adolescent becomes increasingly, and dangerously distant. Research shows, that the minority of adolescents have a 20 percent -25 percent high conflict and majority is moderate or low conflict (Adolescence 263). How many times do you listen to your parent say “when I was young we weren’t allowed in the

Homeless teenagers are a vulnerable population that faces many challenges just in terms of daily existence in addition to their overall development in the transitioning to adulthood. Current studies are reported to indicate that the primary cause of homeless among youth is "family dysfunction in the form of parental neglect, physical or sexual abuse, family substance abuse, and family violence." (Runway & Homeless Youth and Relationship Toolkit, 2009, p.1) Homeless youth are generally defined as "an unaccompanied youth ages 12 and older who are without family support and who are living in shelters, on the streets, in cares or vacant buildings and who are 'couch surfing' or living in other unstable circumstances." (Runway & Homeless Youth and Relationship Toolkit, 2009, p.1) Son (2002) writes that it is "...unknown how many homeless youth are out there. Most of them are not in the child welfare, juvenile justice, or mental health systems, making it difficult to accurately gather statistical data." (p.2)

This Scholarly article focuses on a study that is being conducted for a three months. The volunteers for this study are runaways, homeless and people who have experienced some kind of abuse. The age group resulted in twenty-three fourteen

Youth homelessness can be define as young individuals, ranging from age 12 to around 25, who are without any support from their families, and are either living on the streets or at a shelter. There are often “referred to as “unaccompanied” youth.” (National Coalition for Homelessness (NCH), 2007). Unaccompanied youths can be categorized as runaway-homeless youths, throwaways, and independent youths. Runaway- homeless youths are youths that leave home without any parental permission. Youths that leave their homes because parents encourage them to leave are categorize as throwaways. The final classified as independent youths who leave home because of family conflicts or other issues. (Aratani, 2009).

Adolescents today face a myriad of stressors in their lives that can impact who they are and who they will become. Bio-psychosocial stressors appear to be more prevalent in minority adolescents who reside in lower socioeconomic households. Impoverished neighborhoods experience a great deal of financial difficulties, crime, and single parent homes. Adolescents growing up in these households often have lower grades in school and a lack of self confidence verses their counterparts. Below these stressors will be discussed in greater detail.

As soon as birth, children are exposed to new things; new life experiences that will develop the path of which direction their life will take. Adolescence is the most important time in a child’s life because it is where they learn appropriate behavior from their family and the outside world. Some children are able to use these experiences to differentiate at an early age what is right and what is wrong and hopefully carry this into adulthood. What happens when children are exposed to the wrong experiences at an early age? What happens if children assume that what they are seeing is okay because one of their parents are

The family system and parents are generally regarded as one of the most powerful forces in shaping adolescents. Parents have a great influence in the development of adolescents. The relationship of the parents largely effect the development of adolescents and is an important factor when looking at development. Well-adjusted adolescents tend to have intact families that are supportive and create a warm and loving environment with constant monitoring of behavior. The review examines the current research on adolescent development and how it is effected by parenting styles. Taking into account the changes that occur over time to parents this review shows the fluidity of parenting styles and the stressors that cause those changes.

Children need to have a role model in their presence to advocate educational activities, community involvement, and avoiding contact with the law for bad behavior. As Baker states, “Delinquents are made, not born” (1991, Pg. 274). Possible noncriminal behaviors that may affect a juvenile to become delinquent include; child neglect and/ or abuse, termination of parental rights, foster home placements, those beyond parental control, interfamily assault and other criminal acts (Baker, 1991, Pg. 275). Parents must learn to teach family conflict intervention, management problems, favorable parental attitudes and involvement in problem behaviors. At an early age we learn to do what it thought, showed, and have the adult figure set the example in our lives. For example, helping with academic failure, avoid delinquent criminal peers, and guide away from drug use and crime. Adolescent problem behaviors start with the parents, then move into the community, and society must respond by providing alternative programs and institutions to help the problem.