Although running away is a glorified part of American folk tradition, today's runaway runs afoul of a host of laws, including those which make the act itself illegal. The changes in the social and legal status of youth which contributed to this situation originated in the nineteenth century. In the seventeenth century, the concept of childhood came to be recog nized. Childhood was followed by "youth"—the period when the young ster left home to learn a trade. With the coming of the industrial revolution, however, employment opportunities for youths declined. They began to stay at home and in school longer; at the same time youth was perceived as a stage in life rather than a point on a continuum. Against this background G. Stanley Hall, at the turn of the twentieth century, created the concept of adolescence, which has since been firmly established as a stage of life peculiar to Western society. Runaways and vagrants were largely responsible for the birth of the child-saving movement, which paralleled these changes in social status. Runaway youths drew the attention of Charles Loring Brace, founder of the child-saving movement. Brace's revolutionary notion-that bad youths could be reformed—brought about legal reforms, including reformatories, child welfare laws, and juvenile courts. Despite the barriers resulting from this redefined legal and social thought, there have been three great Periods of running away in this century: the Great Depression, World War II, and the recent "flower child" era. Studies of the youths during and between these periods indicated a recurring theme: rupture in the nuclear family. If family pressure is the most common "push" encouraging a youth to leave, there may at the same time be a strong "pull": an enticing support group of runaway youths. When the peer-support system reaches a "take-off" point, the lure of running is so great that little "push" is required.

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