ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the lives of parents/caretakers and other family members and examines the ways they have influenced the runaway adolescents. It investigates three-generation models of alcohol and drug problems and serious criminal behaviors. The family characteristics often originated in the troubled lives of the adult caretakers. The adolescents reported family histories characterized by alcohol and drug problems, mental health problems, and troubles with the law. More generally, substance abuse resulted in the adolescents witnessing arguments with others and violence toward others. Exposure to violence was the norm for the majority of adolescents who had any family member who had an alcohol or drug problem. All of the regression models were based on adolescent reports and controlled for gender and age of the adolescents. Parental drug or alcohol problems debilitate family processes, resulting in heightened conflict, the adolescent witnessing violent behaviors, and violence directed toward the adolescent.
