Citation

Finkelhor D, Henly M, Turner H, Hamby SL. Child Abuse Negl. 2016; 67: 403-407.

Affiliation

Sewanee the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.008

PMID

27884506

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence and characteristics of family abduction episodes occurring in a nationally representative sample of US children ages 0-17. It drew on the experiences of 13,052 children and youth from the aggregation of three cross-sectional waves (2008, 2011, and 2014) of the National Surveys of Children Exposed to Violence. The overall prevalence rate was 4.1% for a lifetime and 1.2% for a past year episode. Rates were higher for younger than older children. Parents constituted 90% of the abductors with females outnumbering males 60% to 40%, although men outnumbered women as perpetrators for certain types of abductions. A bit less than half of the episodes (43%) were reported to police. The experience of a lifetime family abduction had an independent association with traumatic stress symptoms independent of exposure to other kinds of victimization including child maltreatment and witnessing family violence.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en