Why Do So Many Teenagers Run Away From Home Research Paper

Why Do So Many Teenagers Run Away From Home - Research Paper Example Mother's death or a stepfather's sexual molestation, increased divorce rate, lack of care and attention from the parents etc are some of the other major reasons for the teenage run away from home. Teenage runaway from home results in many social problems. The teenagers who take shelter in the streets often engage in antisocial activities like, robbery, violence etc. Moreover, these teenagers often face sexual exploitation and antisocial elements make use of such teenagers for conducting their missions. This paper briefly analyses the causes and effects of teenage run away from home. Why Do So Many Teenagers Run Away From Home? â€Å"Typically, a runaway is defined as a person under the age of eighteen voluntarily leaves home or another residence and thereby the custody of parents or guardians† (Flowers, 2001, p.3). Even though run away has no uniform definition, we can generally define it as leaving of home by the teenagers without their parent’s permission. Runaways ar e classified into four categories; floaters, runaways, splitters; hard rock freaks Floaters leave home for a shorter period whereas the runaways usually result in long periods of isolation from home. Splitters are the ones who leave their home for pleasure seeking whereas hard rock freaks leave their home permanently having chosen a life of their own (Flowers, 2001, p.4). Earlier, the relationships between the parent and the children were so strong and hence the runaway problems were less. Parent-children relationship has been changed a lot in the current century. It was a divine relationship earlier and became diplomatic at present. The generation gap is growing between the parents and the children. The parental rights now have been transformed as parental responsibilities. Right and responsibility have huge differences. The terms right have much more significance than responsibility. Today’s parents consider their commitments towards their children just like a responsibilit y rather than their right. The transformation of parental responsibility from right to a responsibility has decreased the relationships between the children and parent and subsequently runaway problems started to increase. The parents fail to identify the teenage problems correctly. They have their own personal, professional and social problems and hence failed to spend more time with their children in order to identify their needs. In short, lack of parental care is one of the major reasons of teenage runaways. A relatively high incidence of runaway behaviour may be indicative of family discord. Adolescent runaways believe that their homes were conflictual and intolerable (Rohr, 1997, p.4). Family problem is another major reason for the teenage runaways. The conflicts between the parents often create problems to the development of children. Drug addiction or alcohol addiction of either of the parents may create family problems. In America single parenthood is growing because of the increased divorce rate. A teenager needs the care and attention of both the father and mother and in the absence such love and care, he/she may think in terms of running away from home. In a divorced family the children were forced to stay with either hi/her father or mother, which may result in getting only the half attention he deserves. Mother plays a crucial role in her child’s life. Mothers play the most part in raising the kids. Her role can be three quarters of parenting. Nevertheless, the role they play prior the birth. Nobody can substitute her. She bonded with her kids from the early days of pregnancy to a very late age. She teaches her kids the norms and right behaviours. Father's role is complement to mother's role and yet very important. Father is the person whom the child