NCJ Number
213900
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 149-166
Date Published
April 2006
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study explored how parents respond to the stress of a family or nonfamily child abduction, with particular attention to the effect of social support on the parent’s psychological distress.
Abstract
Overall, results indicated that all parents faced psychological distress following a child abduction, but those parents who received helpful social support from friends experienced decreased levels of stress compared to their counterparts who did not receive helpful support. Moreover, unhelpful support provided by family or attorneys was related to an increase in parental psychological distress following a child abduction. Differences emerged for mothers and fathers: police support was particularly helpful for relieving fathers’ distress. Participants were the primary parent from 146 randomly selected families who had experienced family or nonfamily child abduction. Participants were interviewed in their homes 45 days after the disappearance of the child. Variables under examination included measures of psychological distress; support from relatives, friends, police officers, and attorneys; and background and demographic variables. Bivariate correlations were used to analyze the results. Future research should continue to explore this topic and should focus particularly on the long-term consequences of child abduction on the child victim and the family unit. Tables, references, appendix