ATTEMPTED NON-FAMILY ABDUCTIONS

National estimates suggest that more than 100,000 children in the U.S. experience an attempted abduction by a non-family member each year. M ost of those incidents befall young children-boys and girls ages four to 11-and, despite not being completed, cause both children and their parents significant alarm. The authors examined cases of attempted non -family abductions (ANFAs), identified in a national telephone survey of 10,367 households, to determine child and family characteristics th at may serve as risk factors for such incidents. The prevalence and ri sk-marker findings from this study reinforce the need to continue teac hing ''stranger-danger'' and suggest that children living in stressful or unstable family environments may be in particular need of such pre vention efforts.