HOMELESS YOUTHS DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR PARENTS CHILD-REARING PRACTICES

The families of runaway and homeless youth have been characterized as having high levels of parent-child conflict and distress. This study e xplored homeless youths' perceptions of their parents' child-rearing p ractices. Youth (N = 409) were recruited from street and service sites using a stratified probability sampling design. Factor analysis condu cted with 23 parenting descriptors revealed four distinct parenting st yles: Supportive/Emotionally Available; Intrusive/Unavailable; Detache d; and Problems With Drugs/Law. The implications of these findings and future research and service provision needs are discussed.