TY - JOUR
T1 - Developmental perspectives on the behaviour of missing children
T2 - exploring changes from early childhood to adolescence
AU - Woolnough, Penny S.
AU - Cunningham, Sheila
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Graham Gibb for his contribution to the original project during which the data analysed and presented in this paper was collected. We would also like to thank Grampian Police (now North-East Division of Police Scotland) for their support and assistance with data collection, as well as that of the participating UK police forces. We are also very grateful to Dr Ahmed Abdullah for his advice on statistical analyses, and to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/7/3
Y1 - 2021/7/3
N2 - Despite the inherent vulnerability of missing children and the associated emotional intensity for those affected, there has been no academic exploration of child development and missing behaviour. The current enquiry comprised an examination of police case records to determine how the circumstances and behaviour of missing children varies across early childhood (2-6 years; n = 79; 10.3%), middle childhood (7-11 years; n = 175; 22.9%), and adolescence (12-17 years; n = 512; 66.9%). Children were more likely to go missing in adolescence than early or middle childhood, and more boys than girls were reported missing before adolescence, with the opposite pattern found during adolescence. Adolescents travelled further, took public transport more, and were more likely to be accompanied than those in the younger age groups. Children in the youngest age group were more likely to go missing unintentionally, whereas adolescents were more likely to run away intentionally. Based on these findings it is argued that developmentally informed understanding should contribute to future strategies for preventing and responding to missing children.
AB - Despite the inherent vulnerability of missing children and the associated emotional intensity for those affected, there has been no academic exploration of child development and missing behaviour. The current enquiry comprised an examination of police case records to determine how the circumstances and behaviour of missing children varies across early childhood (2-6 years; n = 79; 10.3%), middle childhood (7-11 years; n = 175; 22.9%), and adolescence (12-17 years; n = 512; 66.9%). Children were more likely to go missing in adolescence than early or middle childhood, and more boys than girls were reported missing before adolescence, with the opposite pattern found during adolescence. Adolescents travelled further, took public transport more, and were more likely to be accompanied than those in the younger age groups. Children in the youngest age group were more likely to go missing unintentionally, whereas adolescents were more likely to run away intentionally. Based on these findings it is argued that developmentally informed understanding should contribute to future strategies for preventing and responding to missing children.
U2 - 10.1080/1068316X.2020.1837130
DO - 10.1080/1068316X.2020.1837130
M3 - Article
SN - 1068-316X
VL - 27
SP - 539
EP - 561
JO - Psychology, Crime and Law
JF - Psychology, Crime and Law
IS - 6
ER -
