Female-Perpetrated Killings of Intimate Partners: An Ecological Analysis

• In Event: Conceptualizing Intimate Partner Homicide

Abstract

Although female-perpetrated intimate partner homicide (IPH) is a major public concern in the United States and around the world, understanding this phenomenon has been limited because most of the IPH literature has focused on individual characteristics without much consideration to broader environmental contexts for the victims and perpetrators. This study represents a comprehensive review of the empirical findings on major risk factors associated with female-perpetrated intimate partner homicide within the context of ecological framework. Ecological theory sees the behavior of the individuals as influenced by intersecting levels of ecological systems: the ontogenic level (individual level), the microsystem (family level), the exo-system (social-structural level) and the macro (or meso) system (sociocultural level). An ecological approach explicitly emphasizes the interaction of these levels in the etiology of female-perpetrated IPH. Guided by ecological framework, this paper identifies factors at various levels of social ecology that are associated with female-perpetrated intimate partner homicide. Finally, suggestions are offered for policies and intervention strategies at each system level.

Authors

• Bitna Kim, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Matthew Hassett, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Soo-Jung Byoun, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs