Why are they Runaways?

"One in seven kids between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away at some point. There are 1 million to 3 million runaway and homeless kids living on the streets in the United States." Many people believe children or teenagers run away from home because of anger,rebellion, or for independence; yet the most important factor is abuse. Children or teens are abused physically, sexually, and psychologically. When dealing with such issues at a very young age without help, care, or love, running away is usually the only thing a child knows to do.

While many people think that rebellion, anger, or the desire to be independent is a main factor to running from home, its not the main factor, although some teens do run away because of them. I think that if a teen does run because of rebellion there must have been many causes over a long period of time. Some of these causes are living with extremely strict and pressuring parents that aren't very caring or helpful. Perhaps the parents show favor to another sibling while the other child gets blamed for various reasons. Living with such parents can be very stressful and I think that I could understand why some leave home and if they don't they would probably deal with anger problems, distrust,depression, loneliness or segregating themselves from their family members. As a result of living in such conditions a child or teenager might have a last and only way to get out. Suicide. So instead of dealing with such problems, the best thing they can think of is to escape.

Most of the time "It is generally recognized that children who leave home prematurely often do so as a result of intense family conflict or even physical,sexual,or psychological abuse." Also The percent of endangered run away teens due to physical and sexual abuse at home is 21%. Another important fact that also proves why teens run from home because of abuse is because "One out of four females is sexually abused by the time she reaches the age of eighteen." The young female most likely can't stand living with such fear and decides to escape. As a result running away is usually a sudden decision. Children or teens just feel that staying in an abusive home is not worth it because they'll probably end up pregnant, killed, or they'll kill themselves because of such horrible circumstances."Instead of running to a better life, they're running away from something. Many children feel that if they do not run away they may end up dead."

Due to a horrible life at home, teens and children around the world fear that they'll most likely die if they don't run away from home. Physical and sexual abuse is the main factor to runway teens rather than just escaping because of anger, rebellion, or the desire of independence.