A study has found that children as young as 10 are running away from home and finding shelter in parks, cars or on friends' couches in Melbourne's outer east.

It finds that some who couchsurf do not regard themselves as homeless, and do not seek support.

The researchers also found the teenagers who are homeless do try to keep going to school.

The study is based on interviews with 21 young people in the Yarra Ranges who were homeless during high school.

Thirty per cent said they had first run away during primary school, at an average age of 10.

Half of those had slept rough in places like parks or local sports ovals.

"That's quite a shocking result, to imagine a 10-year-old running away," Swinburne University's Monica Thielking said.

"That, I suppose, is the most shocking finding in this study, and very worrying to know there are children in this very vulnerable position," she said.

Researchers say when a young person leaves home, they usually stay with friends or extended family.

"But what we know is these stays at other people's places don't last all that long ... they're not permanent solutions," Dr Thielking said.

"They leave and they go back home, and then the conflict hasn't been resolved, and they leave again."

Laura Johns left home at the age of 15 after disputes with her father.

"To begin with, I tried to stay at friends' houses so I was couchsurfing for a couple of months. I didn't really stay anywhere more than a couple of nights at a time," she said.

"Very quickly my friendships started falling apart."

Ms Johns spent one night in a youth refuge in Melbourne's CBD, which she says prompted her to sleep rough.

"To be completely honest, I think the streets were a little bit safer ... at that point," she said.

At the age of 16, Ms Johns was sleeping some nights under the Princes Bridge, near Melbourne's Flinders Street Station.

"They [other people sleeping there] were very welcoming. They sort of wanted to make sure I had the best I could have in that situation, and like, these are people that didn't really have much to give," she said.

"The amount of love and support they had for each other, I think that's what really kept them going."

Ms Johns said she spent 400 nights sleeping rough over six years.

She returned to schooling and got her life on track after a youth worker got in touch.

Schools critical to early intervention

Ms Johns believes schools are the best way for young homeless people to get the help they need and the support they may not seek out.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 21 seconds 4 m 21 s Children as young as 10 sleeping rough in Melbourne's outer east Download 8 MB

"I know it's definitely a growing problem in definitely the Yarra Ranges. I know a lot of young people that are either couchsurfing or sleeping rough and really, I think the biggest issue is that they don't know what to do. I think that's the hardest thing for them," she said.

"If we can sort of help young people understand it earlier, it might not get to the point where they're living rough.

"If one of their friends comes to them and is like, 'I don't really have anywhere to go tonight', the young person needs to know what to do.

"It can be pretty confronting when one of your friends says that to you.

"A lot of young people won't know what to do in that situation."

Her thoughts are similar to those researchers who conducted the study.

"We have a proportion of young people who remained at school ... these are young people that actually ended up getting support," Dr Thielking said.

"The lesson to be learnt here is that we really need to enhance the welfare services within schools, so school counsellors, student welfare co-ordinators [and] increased understanding of the homeless secondary school student."