Traumatic Experiences and High-Risk Behaviors Among Runaway Youth in Residential Care Centers: The Influence of Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity

ABSTRACT

Running away from a residential care center is a worrying reality due to high-risk behaviors adopted by many youths such as delinquency, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior and risky driving. Because youth in residential care may have been exposed to a variety of traumatic experiences (e.g. emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect), the purpose of this study is first, to examine the association between these experiences and high-risk behaviors in adolescents in residential care. Second, this study aims to explore the explanatory mechanisms (impulsivity and sensation-seeking) behind the adoption of high-risk behaviors in runaway and non-runaway youth in residential care. To this end, 125 adolescents aged 15–17 who had run away at least once and 75 who had never run away from their residential care center completed self-report questionnaires about traumatic experiences, high-risk behaviors, sensation seeking and impulsivity. To address the study objectives, correlation and conditional mediation analyses were conducted. Results indicate that sensation seeking influences the relationship between traumatic experiences and delinquency, as well as drug and alcohol use. Thus, addressing sensation seeking tendencies could reduce the risks inherent in the adoption of certain high-risk behaviors among youth in residential care centers.

KEYWORDS:

• High-risk behaviors
• impulsivity
• residential care center
• runaway
• sensation seeking
• traumatic experiences
• youth

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Grant number 430-2015-0076; Richelieu Donation Grant (Université de Montréal), and the financial support of the University Institute Youth in Difficulty. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Laurence Magnan-Tremblay and Ariane Daviault for the coordination of the research project, Annie Lemieux who collaborated on data analysis as well as Denis Lafortune for his contribution to this present article. The authors are particularly grateful to the participants who agreed to contribute to the study and their practitioners, as well as to the research assistants who collaborated on data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University Institute Youth in Difficulty; Richelieu Donation Grant (Université de Montréal); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [430-2015-0076].