Family violence

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.

From 1976 to 2001 over 50,000 people in the United States were victims of documented intimate partner lethal violence. In a study of intimate partner homicides in Chicago, Block and Christakos (1995) found that the weapon used varied based on the offender's gender. Relative to heterosexual partners, homosexual partners experience added stress due to a lack of social support of their relationships. The current study examined the effect of sex and sexual orientation of intimate partner homicide offenders on brutality of killing methods. Two hypotheses were formulated addressing the brutality of the murders as a function of the offender's sexual orientation and sex and the comparative rates of intimate partner homicides in various groups. The results provided robust support for both hypotheses and provide compelling evidence that there is a significant need for social support services to assist in reducing stressors in the gay and lesbian community.

Mate-retention behaviors are designed to solve several adaptive problems, such as deterring a partner's infidelity and preventing defection from the relationship. Although many mate-retention behaviors appear to be innocuous romantic gestures (e.g., giving flowers), some may be harbingers of violence. Here, the relationship between men's mate-retention and violence against women was investigated. In Study 1, men reported their use of mate-retention behaviors and violence in their relationships. Study 2 assessed women's reports of their partners' mate-retention behaviors and their partners' violence against them. Study 3 secured husbands' reports of their mate retention and wives' reports of their husbands' violence. As predicted, and across all studies, men's mate-retention behaviors predicted violence against romantic partners.

This dissertation focuses on using one tangible component of filicide, the method or weapon used by a parent to kill a child, as a means by which to understand parental psychology. An evolutionary psychological perspective (e.g., Buss, 2004; Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) can provide insight into our understanding of filicide. Questions that have not been asked by previous researchers may come to the fore by using an evolutionary perspective as a guide for investigating filicide and its surrounding circumstances and contexts. I present the results of three empirical studies using archival data on filicides recorded in Chicago, Illinois. In Study 1, I present the results of an investigation of parental psychological differences evidenced by the methods of filicide, for filicides recorded between 1965 and 1994. The key results of Study 1 are: (a) while overall (i.e., non-genetic and genetic parents combined), beating was the method of filicide used most often, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by beating significantly exceeded the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents; (b) in contrast, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by asphyxiation was significantly less than the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents. In Studies 2A and 2B, I present the results of an investigation using the 1965-1994 dataset as well as a dataset of filicides-suicides recorded between 1870 and 1930. The key results of these two studies indicate that filicide-suicide may be more likely to occur in certain contexts (e.g., multiple-victim killings) and in certain circumstances (e.g., following paternal filicide). In the final chapter, I discuss the key findings, identify limitations of the current research, and present several future directions for research.