The evaluation from perspective of protective-preventive i̇ntervention of social service of causes why adolescents escaping from home based on their self-esteem and family functioning

Escaping from home is one of the risky behaviors exhibited by adolescents during adolescence. Even though there are many determinants that cause adolescents to exhibite those behaviors, the self-esteem and family functioning are among the most important determinants. This study was designed for two purposes. First of all, it was aimed to examine whether there is a significant difference between self-esteem scores and sociodemographic attributes of adolescents who had escaped from home. Secondly, it was aimed to examine the subscales of the perceived family functioning of the parents of adolescents who had escaped from home. Therefore, the research was designed as a causal-comparative research from quantitative research methods. The population of the research consists of adolescents, aged 12-18 years who have shown behaviour of escaping from home, and their parents in Şanlıurfa province. 43 of these adolescents and 43 adults among their parents, who are selected by purposive sampling from the population constitute the sample of this research. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure the self-esteem of adolescents who have shown behaviour of escaping from home and Family Assessment Device was used to measure subscales of the perceived family functioning of adults as data collection tools. For the analysis of data, Kruskal Wallis H-Test and Mann-Whitney U-Test was made. According to the results of the analysis, there is a significant difference between self-esteem and some sociodemographic attributes of adolescents. In addition, it has been concluded that the parents of adolescents who had escaped from home perceive all subscales of Family Assessment Device as unhealthy. If the behaviors of adolescents to escaping from home should be examined, it is necessary to deal with all aspects of self-esteem and family functioning. Keywords: Adolescence, escaping from home, family functioning, risk taking behavior, self-esteem.