NCJ Number
167318
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) assessed the risk of harm to young people during or as a result of runaway or thrownaway episodes, caretaker involvement and satisfaction with the police in helping to find young people who had run away or been forced to leave home, and family characteristics of households with young people who had run away or been forced to leave home.
Abstract
The NISMART household survey used computerized random digit dialing of 60,000 telephone numbers to find 11,617 households with children 18 years of age or younger. Questionnaires identified 150 potential runaway episodes and 143 potential thrownaway episodes. Some harm was reported by caretakers in 23 percent of episodes that involved mental harm, physical harm, stolen money, or sexual abuse. The risk of harm differed among young people. Young persons between 8 and 12 years of age had a somewhat higher incidence of harm than young persons who were 15 years of age and older. The severity of episodes was related to the risk of harm. Young people who traveled longer distances had a higher incidence of harm than young people who traveled shorter distances. Police were contacted in 35 percent of episodes, and caretakers were satisfied with police involvement 56.2 percent of the time. Runaway and thrownaway young people and households differed from non-episode households in many ways, particularly on qualitative measures of cohesion and stress. Implications of the study findings for appropriate interventions and additional research are discussed.