Child maltreatment in Disney animated feature films: 1937–2006

The 45 fully animated, theatrical release feature films produced by Disney between 1937 and 2006 were analyzed for child maltreatment content. All child and adolescent characters were counted and coded for age, role type and incidents of child maltreatment, following US National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS) criteria. A total of 561 incidents of child maltreatment were identified among the 1369 child characters in the films. A total of 26 of the 42 (62%) main child characters were maltreated at least once. Findings are discussed in the context of previous research. Implications of the findings for understanding potential effects on film viewers’ understandings of issues around child maltreatment are outlined.