Change in the runaway while away from home

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not a relationship exists between the length of time a child spends on a runway episode and his feelings of security, expressed control, want of control, expressed affection, want of affection, expressed inclusion, and want of inclusion, as reported on the Security-Insecurity inventory and the FIRO-B. It was the specific aim of this study to increase useful information for social services agencies youth counselors concerning personality traits of the runway child, with the expectation that this information would give a direction or goal for therapy, rehabilitation, and decision-making to run-away children. Method: The methods used in this study were: (1) the collection of data runways administering the Security-Insecurity Inventory and the FIRO-B to fifty-four runaway children while thy were on their runway episode and asking how long each had been away from home; (2) correlating the time away from home with the scores obtained on the Security-Insecurity inventory and the FIRO-B using the person Product Moment Correlation; and (3) concluding from the results of personal observation and the results of the correlation coefficient, considering .70 as significant. Findings: 1. Using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to test the relationship between reported number of days a child is on runway and his feelings of security, as reported in the Security-Insecurity Inventory, indicates that if a relationship does exist, it is a phenomena occurring by chance. 2. Using the Pearson Moment Correlation to test the relationship between reported number of days a child is on runway and his feelings of control, as reported in the FIRO-B, indicates that if a relationship does exist, it is a phenomena occurring by chance. 3. Using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to test the relationship between reported number of days a child is on runway and his feelings of control, as reported on the FIRO-B, indicates that a tendency for such a relationship might exist. 4. Using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation to test the relationship between reported number of days a child is on runaway and his feelings of affection, as reported on the FIRO-B, indicates that if a relationship exists, it is a phenomena occurring by chance.