John needs to calm down. Just because people wonder and try to understand stuff they don't is no reason to freak. We know some little kids will try to escape so why some do and some don't remains a mystery.
I think it may be summed up by fight or flight. I can tell you that my husband and his sister were raised in the same home, with the same crap. They are exact opposites, complete and total in every aspect of their personalities, lives, thinking, self reliance, integrity, everything. Some people believe their self worth is what others tell them it is, some people believe their self worth is what they themselves value it to be.