Peer-reviewed article
Psychosocial Dynamics in Attachment Styles Among Runaway Children
Srishti Kapoor, Kailash Panwar, Kshitija Wason ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined attachment styles and emotional regulation in 100 runaway children (aged 14.4 years on average) living in a shelter in Delhi, India. Researchers measured parental attachment, peer attachment, emotional regulation, and life satisfaction using standardised questionnaires. The findings show that peer attachment matters more than parental attachment for runaway children, with different patterns for boys and girls. The research suggests that rehabilitation programmes could better support runaway children by focusing on peer relationships and emotional regulation skills rather than only family reunification.
Key points
- Peer attachment was more significant than parental attachment among runaway children
- Clear gender differences were found in attachment styles between boys and girls
- Factors contributing to running away include lack of communication, abuse, poverty and peer influence
- The sample consisted of 100 runaway children (50 girls, 50 boys) with mean age 14.4 years
- Findings have implications for designing alternative care models in rehabilitation programmes
Limitations
This is a descriptive exploratory study with no comparison group, so it cannot establish causation or test the effectiveness of any intervention. The findings are specific to children in one shelter in Delhi and may not generalise to runaway children in other settings or countries.
Abstract
For a child to leave the parental umbrella is an act of rebellion, emotional hurt and physical distancing. Despite being a frequent occurrence, running away from home still remains one of the less addressed problems in India. Factors like lack of communication and attachment to parents, abuse, poverty and peer influence have a crucial role in shaping such behaviours. The present research is an exploratory study to examine these factors with a sample size of 100 runaway children (50 girls, 50 boys) residing in a non-governmental organisation in NCR, Delhi. The mean age of the sample is 14.4 years. Quantitative measures like Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment (Greenberg, 1987; Gullone & Robinson, 2005 ), Emotional Regulation Questionnaire ( Gross & John, 2003 ), Kind of Person Implicit Theory Scale ( Dweck, 1999 ) and Satisfaction with Life Scale-Child (Gadermann et al., 2012) were used. Findings indicate a significant role of peer attachment versus parental attachment with a clear gender disparity seen in attachment styles. The repercussions of findings are immense to the rehabilitation sector with special focus on creating models of alternative care which could harness these dynamics. How models of rehabilitation could systemically harness peer attachment and create parallel edifices of emotional regulation are other aspects this research focuses upon. The study has implications for intervention-based programmes for runaways as it can help to understand their perils and make positive changes.