This study examines the relationship among childhood victimization, and delinquency, and whether running away serves to mediate or moderate this relationship.
Data are from a prospective cohorts design study in which documented cases of childhood abuse and neglect were compared to matched controls, and followed-up and interviewed between 1989 and 1995. Being abused or neglected in childhood increased the likelihood that a youth would run away from home; both childhood victimization and running away increased the risk of juvenile arrest; and chronic runaways were at greater risk of arrest as juveniles. Furthermore, running away did not mediate the relationship between childhood victimization and delinquency, because running away increased the risk of juvenile arrest for both childhood victims and non-victims. The effect of running away was stronger for non-abused and non-neglected youths than for abused and neglected children. Figures, tables, notes, references