Global and domain-specific self-concepts of a matched sample of adolescent runaways and nonrunaways.

Assessed the self-concepts of 132 adolescents (66 adolescent runaways and 66 nonrunaways) with the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale (MSCS). Adolescent runaways were found to have significantly lower global self-concepts than the matched group of children who did not run away (hereafter nonrunaways). Runaways were also found to have lower domain-specific self-concepts than nonrunaways in 5 of the 6 important domains assessed by the MSCS (i.e., Social, Affect, Academic, Family, and Physical). Within-group analyses revealed that runaway adolescents had significantly lower Family self-concepts than other specific domains of self-concept, which highlights the influence of families on children's psycho-social adjustment. As expected, nonrunaways did not differ across any of the domain-specific self-concepts.