NCJ Number
237060
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 589-599
Date Published
May 2008
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study tested several hypotheses about filicide-suicide using a database including incident-level information on 11,018 Chicago homicides during 1870-1930.
Abstract
Filicide (the killing of a child by a parent) followed by the offender's suicide is a tragic but, fortunately, rare event. The contexts and circumstances surrounding filicide-suicide may provide insight into parental psychology. The authors test several hypotheses about filicide-suicide using a database including incident-level information on 11,018 Chicago homicides during 1870-1930. The results provide some support for the hypothesis of differential risk of suicide following filicide by genetic parents and stepparents and replicate previous research indicating that filicides with multiple victims are more likely to end in the offender's suicide than are filicides with a single victim; parents are more likely to commit suicide following the filicide of an older child than of a younger child; and older parents, relative to younger parents, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide. The discussion situates these results within the existing literature and highlights important directions for future research. (Published Abstract)