ABSTRACT
The number of homeless youth in smaller cities, particularly those in the Midwest, was thought to be minimal and their conditions dissimilar to those in larger cities. The research design had several unique characteristics compared to other studies of homeless and runaway adolescents. The design included intensive histories of the adolescents’ life transitions from birth to the present, including changes in family configuration, and parent-initiated, institution-initiated, and child-initiated changes in residence or living situation. Parent/caretaker and adolescent agreement on reports of externalizing behaviors provide increased confidence of self-reports of adolescent behavioral problems provided in single-reporter research designs. Adolescent males and females were about equally likely to give consent to contact primary caretakers. Among adolescents, consent to contact a parent or caretaker was more likely among younger, less deviant runaways, who remained somewhat attached to their parents/caretakers. Adolescents were assured that their decisions regarding parent contact would have no effect on reimbursement for the interview.
