ABSTRACT
The life-events matrix chronicled multiple levels of disorganization in the adolescents’ young lives. Life for the majority of the adolescents had been a “revolving door” of various living situations often beginning early in life. Even though the adolescent is the reporter on the life-events matrix, parent-initiated moves were primarily attributed to the adolescent behaviors. The adolescent moves from family-oriented transitions to greater involvement in institutional transitions and self-initiated transitions. The adolescents moved persistently toward separation from family as the number of transitions increased either through increasing independence or institutional placements. The transition patterns indicate increasing child independence and decreasing parent involvement. The developmental histories of the adolescents point to multiple sources of change in caretakers and in residence. The number of child-initiated transitions after first runaway represents a count of all child-initiated changes in living situations recorded on the life-events matrix after the child first experienced being on his/her own.
