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Abstract
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The authors examined the available data for 10 adolescents who had been charged with parricide and compared these with data for matched groups of 10 adolescents charged with murdering another relative or a close acquaintance and 10 charged with murdering a stranger. They found significant differences between parricidal adolescents and other homicidal adolescents on personality, family, social, and follow-up adjustment variables.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study by Corder et al. was to further research on the comparison of adolescent parricide (the murder of one or both parents) with other adolescent murder in order to test the findings of past researchers.
METHODOLOGY:
The researchers used a quasi-experimental longitudinal design with a non-probability sample that consisted of 3 precision matched groups of 10, one experimental group and 2 control groups. The experimental group contained 10 adolescents who had been charged with parricide. The control groups were made up of 10 adolescents charged with murdering another relative or close acquaintance and 10 adolescents charged with murdering a stranger, respectively. Follow-up data were gathered by looking at hospital, prison, and outpatient clinic records, test reports, and social history data along with interviews with hospital and clinic staff and prison and parole officials. 31 variables were compared between the three groups. These variables fell into the general categories of personality, family, and environmental characteristics, alcohol or drug abuse, abuse by parent, absence of social outlets, home disorganization, circumstances of murder, history of intervention, and follow-up data. A Fisher's exact test was applied to the contingency table for each factor to compare total scores for each factor of each group.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Significant differences were found between adolescents who were charged with parricide and one or both control groups. They had fewer typical adolescent social and sexual relationships; fewer indications of problems of impulse control or aggressive behavior; more evidence of chronic physical abuse by parents; more signs of overattachment to their mothers and atypical sexual stimulation by parents, greater instances of chronic abuse of mother by father, more absent fathers, and more cases of amnesia for the murder act. The control group of adolescents charged with murdering a stranger when compared to the parricidal group were significantly more likely to have a history of poor impulse control, aggressive behavior and previous arrests and sentences to reform schools. Adolescents charged with murdering a stranger when compared to the other control group of adolescents charged with murdering a close relative were significantly more likely to have been identified as needing psychiatric treatment before the crime, to have abused drugs or alcohol, and to have shown evidence of the crime being premeditated. A high level of family disorganization was found in all groups as were low instances of self destructive behavior. Absence of drug or alcohol intoxication at the time of the crime was also characteristic of the three groups. Some of the hypotheses of Duncan and Duncan, and Lander and Schulman who noted destructive parent-child relationships and deficient nurturing and posed that these may lead to acting out of intense hostility and homicidal behavior were supported.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
N1 - Call Number: F-510, AB-510
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Parent Homicide
KW - Homicide Offender
KW - Domestic Violence Offender
KW - Domestic Homicide
KW - Parent Abuse Offender
KW - Offender Characteristics
KW - Comparative Analysis
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Family Background
KW - Family Relations
KW - Emotional Adjustment
KW - Juvenile Adjustment
KW - Offender Personality
KW - Personality Characteristics
Language: en |