It’s Called “Going Out to Play”: A Video Diary Study of Hmong Girls’ Perspectives on Running Away

How do Hmong immigrant adolescent girls’ decide to run away, return home, leave again, or stay home? Video diaries by 11 sexually-exploited runaway Hmong girls, age 13–16, revealed four themes: “Fighting restrictions,” resisting family cultural expectations and desires to be like other American teens; “Not Running Away, Going Out to Play,” which captured impulsive decision-making; “Unrestrained Partying” described runaway experiences but minimized dangers they faced; and “Trying to Change,” returning home because of family bonds and wanting to “be someone good.” Given their limited ability to anticipate risks, interventions should focus on runaway prevention initiatives for Hmong families and teens...

Running Away and Sexual Assault among Hmong Adolescent Girls

The dangers to youth who have run away and are persistently street-involved are well documented internationally, and include a high risk of being exposed to illicit drugs, sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancy, depression, suicide attempts, and sexual exploitation (Cauce et al., 2000; Marshall et al., 2009; Milburn, Rotheram-Borus, Rice, Mallett & Rosenthal, 2006). However, the pattern of repeated short-term running away, defined as leaving home multiple times and staying with people the family does not know, in short periods of one to fourteen days, is less known. Youth who run away for one to three days but still return home might be considered at lower risk than long-term runaways, but for those who run repeatedly, the amount of time they are away from home can add up over the course of a year, and can increase health risks such as early sexual onset (Thrane & Chen, 2010). Auerswald and Eyre (2002) have described the life cycles of homeless youth, but this research has not focused specifically on the patterns of leaving and returning home for short-term runaways, which appears to be a common pattern among Hmong teens in particular (Edinburgh & Saewyc, 2009). Without understanding the motivations for repeated short-term runaway episodes, clinicians might miss an important opportunity to intervene before adolescents experience the significant negative health outcomes of street-entrenched youth (Saewyc & Edinburgh, 2010;Yoder, Whitbeck & Hoyt, 2004).

Hmong girls in the U.S. who have run away appear to be more likely to experience sexual exploitation and severe sexual assaults, such as gang rape, than their peers in other ethnic groups (Edinburgh, et al., 2006). Over three out of four (77%) runaway Hmong girls treated in an urban child abuse clinical setting reported being sexually assaulted by gang members, either via gang rape or prostitution; the majority of these girls reported five or more sexual assault episodes. The number of Hmong gangs in Minnesota and their level of criminal activity has increased in severity (Straka, 2003), with rape being incorporated into Hmong gang culture and its operational structure. Since 1997, authorities have documented that gang initiations can involve bringing a girl, who believes she is attending a party, to be raped by one person or “lined up” and raped by a group of men (Scott, 2002; Straka, 2003). The results of such trauma include high rates of sexually transmitted infections; in our earlier study of runaways referred to the child abuse clinic, more than one in three Hmong runaway girls tested positive for Chlamydia (Edinburgh, et al., 2006)...

Table 1

Demographic and risk characteristics of participants (N=11)

	N
Age	13–16 years
Living with two parents	8/11
Exposure to domestic violence	2/11*
Intra-familial sexual abuse	2/11*
Intra-familial physical abuse	2/11*
Previous Child Protection Services involvement	1/11
Type of Sexual Assault (may have experienced more than one type)
Gang rape	2/11
Prostitution	2/11
Multiple different perpetrators	9/11
Single perpetrator	2/11
Previous history of extra-familial sexual assault
Prior to running away	0
History of self-harm	8/11
Suicidal ideation	10/11
Previous suicide attempt	3/11
Substance use
Alcohol	10/11
Marijuana	3/11
Other drugs	9/11

*The same two girls reported domestic violence, plus intrafamilial sexual and physical abuse.

Table 2

Experiences of Running Away from Home

Case	Age	Typical length of runaway experience	Number of times away from home	Longest interval away from home
1	14	2 – 3 days	> 10 times	16 days
2	13	2 – 3 days	> 10 times	3 days
3	14	2 – 3 days	> 10 times	3 days
4	15	1 – 2 days	> 10 times	2 days
5	16	180 days	1 time	180 days
6	13	1 day	1 time	1 day
7	15	2 – 3 days	> 10 times	7 days
8	13	1 – 2 days	> 10 times	2 days
9	14	1 – 2 days	> 10 times	21 days
10	15	1 day	< 5 times	1 day
11	13	2 – 3 days	> 10 times	17 days

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/zcPKkt

By:   Laurel D. Edinburgh, MSN, RN, CNP, Carolyn M. Garcia, PhD, MS, MPH, RN, and Elizabeth M. Saewyc, PhD, RN, PHN, FSAHM

Laurel D. Edinburgh, Nurse Clinician, Midwest Children’s Resource Center, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA;

Contributor Information.

Corresponding author (for reprints requests): Laurel Edinburgh, Midwest Children’s Resource Center, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, 347 N. Smith Ave, St. Paul, MN 55102, USA, Email: gro.nmsnerdlihc@hgrubnide.lerual

  

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