Self-Focus

In Chapter 4, accounts of street-involved youth about their separation from guardians are described. These stories show that how and why these youth separate or are separated from guardians affect their unusual experiences of self-focus, emerging adulthood, and experiences on the street. The youth’s explanations for leaving guardians included the desire to grow up, the need to escape intolerable conditions at home, and the urge for freedom. On the other hand, much like other emerging adults, in this period street-involved youth were “freed” of the routines of school and family life.