Runaway Teens Cause and Effect Essay Outline

Outline: “Runaway Teens”
By: Faith Drum
I Intro: Lead: “Oh, we dont have a runaway problem here.” The location is irrelevant, and we here it all the time. Runaway teenagers are not just a problem here or across the ocean, its all over the world.

Thesis Statement: Not only in the U.S., Europe, Canada, or China but, runaway teenagers are a big, yet silent problem everywhere.

Guide:
There are three main causes of runaways in the world: Children own emotional problems, dysfunctional, neglectful, or abusive family environment, and personal or selfish problems; also, with every action there are consequenses.

II The first cause of runaway teens are children own emotional problems. Depression. Problems with school, relationships, picked on or even beaten up, weight, and looks. III Dysfunctional, neglectful, or abusive family environment is also a cause for runaway. 1. Parents involved in illegal activity. Taking pills, smoking weed, stealing, breaking the law etc. 2. Parental relationships. Remarriage, divorce, more than one partner. 3.Parent attitude toward child. Hitting, no attention, strict, physical or mental abuse.
IV Last but not least, personal problems. 1. Peer pressure. Gang relationship, bet, dares, relationship pressure. 2. Illegal activity not allowed at home. Gang relationship, drug use. 3. Relationships. Parents disagree with friends, not allowed to date, met someone online. Story: A girl was in a relationship with Butler on the internet and with a cell phone even after her parents found out and tried to stop her. He picked her up on a saturday evening to runaway as man and wife. When she had second thoughts she sent text messages with the description of the car to her sister, enabling state police to catch the man. The relationship went on for a year before she decided to leave with him. She was only a few years younger than her, though Butler knew she was underage. This story shows how dangerous running away is. A million things could have happened to her just because she thought she loved him and made a wrong decision.

VI With every action there are consequences. The National Network for Youth had one study were fifty one percent of runaway youth reported physical abuse. They also say fifty to fifty six percent of homeless teenagers report mental health problems over their lifetime. The National Network for Youth have also found that sixty six percent of males and thirty three percent of females report being assaulted on the street and that huge numbers are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Runaway teens are six to twelve times more likely to become infected with HIV than their at-home peers. The Department of Health and Human Services says that up to forty percent have been sexually molested. Staff at runaway and homeless youth shelters say sixty three percent of the runaways the work with are depressed; fifty percent have trouble with school; twenty percent abuse drugs and alcohol; and seventeen percent have been in the juvenile justice system. One survey found that twenty six percent of those on the street have attempted suicide and nearly one-third of shelter youth have attempted suicide. Nearly half the young women on the street and one-third of the girls in shelters report having been pregnant in the past. Also, some teenagers sometimes turn to illegal and dangerous choices to survive. More than one-third of homeless teens engage in survival sex, or trading sex for: money, food, shelter, drugs, and other subsistence needs. Almost as many report dealing drugs or engaging in other criminal activities to survive on the street.