Teenage Runaways: Broken Hearts and +Bad Attitudes+

Teenage Runaways: Broken Hearts and "Bad Attitudes" examines and discusses runaway behavior from the perspective of 26 runaways to help readers understand the widespread social problem of this "last resort" behavior. This gripping book shatters popular myths that runaways are just bad kids who want to leave home, that they make impulsive decisions to leave their families, and that they wish to never return. Instead, Teenage Runaways recognizes that adolescents often leave their families because they are searching for safety and freedom from what they consider abusive treatment, whether physical, sexual, or emotional. Teenage Runaways offers readers valuable information about who these children are, why they are running away, and what can be done to help them.

Laurie Schaffner grew up in Los Angeles, California, in the 1950s, and lived on her own as a teenager, including living in Mexico during the 1970s. Ms. Schaffner completed her Bachelor's degree as an Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1995. She is currently a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, and she teaches gender studies to incarcerated teenage girls at a northern California juvenile detention facility. Her work has earned awards from the American Sociology Association, the American Society of Criminology, and the Society for Applied Anthropology.