Contexts and circumstances of filicide-suicide

The contexts and circumstances surrounding filicide-suicide may provide insight into parental psychology. The current studies used two Chicago homicide databases containing incident-level information on homicides committed in Chicago during the years 1965-1994 and 1870-1930. Results provide support for the following hypotheses: (1) genetic parents relative to stepparents are more likely to commit suicide following filicide, (2) filicides of multiple victims are more likely to end in the offender's suicide than are filicides of a single victim, (3) parents are more likely to commit suicide following a filicide of an older child than a younger child, (4) older parents, relative to younger parents, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide, and (5) fathers, relative to mother, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide. Discussion situates results of the current research within existing literature on filicide-suicide, and highlights important directions for future work on the contexts and circumstances surrounding filicide-suicide.