title: Demographic, personality and psychopathology characteristics of the runaway girls in social emergency and rehabilitation centre of shiraz, iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The problem of runaway girls is one of the social problems which has become more prevalent and is considered a serious challenge for families, welfare centers and governmental organizations in Iran. This study aimed at determining the demographic, personality and psychopathology characteristic of a sample of runaway girls in Shiraz, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty girls who had escaped from their home and were referred to the Women's Social Emergency and Rehabilitant Centre of Shiraz were compared with fifty girls who lived with their parents (control group). They were assessed by semi-structured interview based on the DSMIV-TR criteria, demographic questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-R-106 (EPQ-R-106).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean (±SD) age of the runaway girls was 19.9 (±3.81) years. Twenty (40%) were the first child of the family. Forty-three subjects (86%) were resident of cities. Physical abuse and neglect were more prevalent in the runaway girls (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between two groups in history of major psychiatric disorders. Regarding GHQ-28, only in social function subscale, the runaway girls showed more disturbances in their social function compared to control group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in extroversion, lying tendency, addiction tendency and crime seeking (P < 0.05) between the two groups and escaped girls showed more disturbances in comparison with the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The social burden of runaway girls in Shiraz is of significance and this subject warrants more attention from non-governmental and governmental organizations in order to provide more psychological and social support for these girls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toubaei
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, and Department of Psychiatry, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nateghi
authors.affiliation: Psychiatrist.
authors.forename: Gholam Reza
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Dehbozorgi
authors.affiliation: Psychiatrist.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sadr Esfahani
keywords: Runaway girls; personality disorder; physical abuse; psychiatric disorder; psychopathology