All subjects had returned to their families at the time of the interviews. Only one youth reached another city and reported involvement with sex and drugs. Stage I in the development of running-away behavior is problematic familial relationships that typically involve issues of love, violence, power struggles, and siblings. From one of these areas, a fight (stage II) developed between the youth and at least one parent. In the fight, the parent transgressed upon and threatened the youth, who interpreted these circumstances as being unbearable. To escape the perceived unbearable situation, the youth ran away. The interpretation of events among the youths was remarkably similar, and supplementary interviews corroborated the youths' recollections. Issues such as school, peers, and divorce were tangential problems emerging from problems in the parent-youth interaction. The data only hint at the sequence of events in running away. More refined work is required before definitive conclusions can be drawn. 7 notes and 28 references.