Other groups with a high prevalence of sexual abuse include intravenous drug users, incarcerated youth, and teens exploited through the sex industry and prostitution. 12 Compelling research begs for enhanced medical and social interventions to decrease the long-term medical and mental health sequelae of homeless and runaway adolescents. Significantly higher rates of suicide attempts were noted among homeless youth who were sexually or physically abused before leaving home. Of the abused youth, 52% were abused at home, 15% on the street, and 33% both at home and on the street.
Respondents were more likely to report sexual abuse while living at home than while living on the street. 12 The mean age of first sexual abuse was 9.0 years for females and 9.9 for males. 11 Research on street youth 12 to 19 years of age in three cities (Denver, New York, and San Francisco) found prevalence rates of sexual abuse of 35% in females and 24% in males.
Life on the street, however, is often characterized by hunger, prostitution, chronic illness, violence, and the threat of HIV/AIDS. Sapp MD, in Child Abuse and Neglect, 2011 Populations at RiskĪdolescent “runaways” often leave dysfunctional and abusive families hoping to find jobs and new lives.
Interventions such as group-based HIV prevention, family and individual therapy, and case management have shown promising results in reducing high-risk behaviors, substance abuse, and mental health problems as well as improving housing stability. Although few studies have evaluated program or treatment outcomes, preliminary outcomes suggest that service efforts, such as shelters, produce short-term benefits, but long-term behavioral improvements have not been observed. Intervention efforts with runaway teens include community-based services as well as stand-alone or add-on interventions such as HIV prevention and individual, family, or group therapy. Some of the debate hinges on adolescents’ ability to provide informed consent due to their age, vulnerability, and environmental stress. However, the debate regarding the balance between parental and child rights is ongoing. Requiring parental consent for runaway teenagers to receive needed medical and psychological services has been shown to limit teens’ ability to receive services. Once having left home or being pushed out of the home, runaway teens’ options include couch surfing, runaway shelters, state's custody, and/or living directly on the streets in abandoned buildings, under bridges, or in other places not meant for human habitation. Current conceptualizations recognize that running away is a multidimensional phenomenon arising from individual, family, and systemic interactions. In the middle of the twentieth century until recently, runaway teens were considered delinquents, with running away originating from individual psychopathology. In earlier times, teenagers, especially boys, left home to seek their fortune and a better life. Conceptualizations of runaways have changed significantly. Runaway teens are a diverse and complex group. Dashora, in Encyclopedia of Adolescence, 2011 Conclusion