An examination of gender and age in print media accounts of child abductions

Previous research has suggested that the print media over-report on certain demographics of abducted children. Specifically, cases where the abduction victim is younger or the abduction victim is female are most often covered. The purpose of the current study was to systematically examine, through the research technique of content analysis, whether a lack of congruency exists between newspaper articles detailing child abduction victims and empirical data of the same. Newspaper articles were collected from LexisNexis Academic, and empirical data were drawn from the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. The results revealed that gender and age play only a minor role in deciding which abduction incidents are covered by newspapers, as well as the extent to which they are reported on. Specifically, newspapers dedicated more words to female victims than male victims and reported more on younger children (aged 11 and under) than older children (aged 12 and over) when they were the victim of a nonfamily abduction. It appears, however, that in all other types of abduction cases, newspapers are reporting a rather factual depiction of the demographics of victims. The implications of these findings are discussed.