NCJ Number
166480
Date Published
1993
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Children who were victims of attempted nonfamily abductions were compared with nonvictimized children with respect to their demographic and social characteristics to determine the risk markers of children experiencing nonfamily abduction.
Abstract
The data came from the national household telephone survey of 10,367 randomly selected households, conducted in the NISMART study. The attempted nonfamily abductions included any incident in which a nonfamily member tried to take, detain, or lure a child. Results revealed that the unweighted total of 35 attempted nonfamily abductions indicated that 114,600 children were involved in an attempted nonfamily abduction in 1988. The majority of these attempts were attempted lures, in which strangers unsuccessfully tried to get children to enter cars. Young children (both males and females) from intact, two-parent households located in large cities and city suburbs appeared to be at greatest risk of experiencing such an incident. These incidents were also associated with high levels of family stress and parental experiences of childhood trauma. Police were contacted in only 42 percent of the episodes. Findings justify teaching children about stranger danger and the need to emphasize skills of observation so that accosted children can provide better information about these strangers. In addition, prevention efforts should particularly target children and their parents living in stressful or unstable family settings. Tables, notes, and appended methodological information