<p>The aim with this thesis is to study how the phenomenon young people who run away from home (runaways) is presented in the research literature. The question at issue in our thesis is: How does research literature present the phenomenon of young people who run away from home? We have selected seven primary documents that we consider gives a broad picture of the knowledge about runaways. We have a postmodern and a hermeneutic approach in our thesis. Our material has been analyzed on the basis of social constructionist theory and the new sociological paradigm of childhood. The research findings show that there are no uniform picture of the young people who run away from home. The act, to run away from home, is also described in various ways. Runaways are often described as victims of difficult life circumstances and the act, to run away from home, is in most cases considered as a reaction to a serious situation at home. We also found descriptions where the young people are presented as strong manipulative individuals. The act, to run away from home, is presented as a violation against the universal social norms considering when and how the youth is allowed to leave the parental home.</p>

The aim with this thesis is to study how the phenomenon young people who run away from home (runaways) is presented in the research literature. The question at issue in our thesis is: How does research literature present the phenomenon of young people who run away from home? We have selected seven primary documents that we consider gives a broad picture of the knowledge about runaways. We have a postmodern and a hermeneutic approach in our thesis. Our material has been analyzed on the basis of social constructionist theory and the new sociological paradigm of childhood. The research findings show that there are no uniform picture of the young people who run away from home. The act, to run away from home, is also described in various ways. Runaways are often described as victims of difficult life circumstances and the act, to run away from home, is in most cases considered as a reaction to a serious situation at home. We also found descriptions where the young people are presented as strong manipulative individuals. The act, to run away from home, is presented as a violation against the universal social norms considering when and how the youth is allowed to leave the parental home.

<p>This thesis has been written within the research project “Tillfälligt Uppbrott”, which concerns youths who have run away or been thrown out of their homes. The project is based on a na-tional poll among more than 3000 high school students. Our purpose has been to study youths who have left home and their own experiences. We have looked at all the question-naires in which the youths stated they had left home and focused on their answers to five open questions. The answers have been categorized in themes and the results have been put up against a certain amount of background variables. The concentration is foremost qualitative but there are also features of quantitive data. In our analysis we have used the new sociology of childhood which is based on social constructionism. In our result we have learned what the youths see as the reasons for the breakups, what they missed, how they provided for them-selves and what happened to them during the time away from home, as well as gotten exam-ples on how the experience affected them, both positively and negatively.</p>

This thesis has been written within the research project “Tillfälligt Uppbrott”, which concerns youths who have run away or been thrown out of their homes. The project is based on a na-tional poll among more than 3000 high school students. Our purpose has been to study youths who have left home and their own experiences. We have looked at all the question-naires in which the youths stated they had left home and focused on their answers to five open questions. The answers have been categorized in themes and the results have been put up against a certain amount of background variables. The concentration is foremost qualitative but there are also features of quantitive data. In our analysis we have used the new sociology of childhood which is based on social constructionism. In our result we have learned what the youths see as the reasons for the breakups, what they missed, how they provided for them-selves and what happened to them during the time away from home, as well as gotten exam-ples on how the experience affected them, both positively and negatively.