Blame attribution and intention: exploring community attitudes towards missing persons in Australia

Approximately 56,000 missing persons reports were made to Australian police in 2023. Missing persons are often categorised by their intentions and assessed for risk of harm to themselves or others based on their age, yet there is still a limited understanding of going missing. A community sample (N = 849) was recruited, using a vignette design methodology to explore the relationship between blame attribution, missing person intention and age, as well as the predictive effects of subject and observer characteristics. Male participants attributed significantly more blame to missing persons than females, and there was a significant main effect of intention on blame. Regression models indicated a strong relationship between observer gender, subject intention and blame. These findings have significant practical implications for further research and for informing police assessments and responses and provide a basis to develop supports for affected families, missing persons and the community.