Citation

Johnson L. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.13076

PMID

38554063

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to compare jealousy as a correlate of intimate partner homicide-suicide cases to homicide-only cases using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a state-based surveillance system maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jealousy is categorized as jealous feelings or distress over a current or former intimate partner's relationship or suspected relationship with another person.

METHODS: NVDRS data from a 5-year period (2016-2020) was used to estimate frequencies and identify significant differences in jealousy and other sociodemographic, mental health, relationship, and incident-related correlates of intimate partner homicide-suicide compared to homicide-only cases. Cases were included if they involved an intimate partner single homicide or a single homicide followed by suicide.

RESULTS: The study sample included 5335 cases (intimate partner homicide-suicide n = 1402; homicide-only n = 3933). A significantly higher percentage of intimate partner homicide-suicide cases reported jealousy preceding the event (9%) compared to homicide-only cases (6%). Compared with homicide-only cases, homicide-suicide cases had 3.5 greater odds of recording jealousy as a precipitating event.

CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that intimate partner homicide-suicide cases are distinct from homicide-only cases both in terms of individual- and incident-level and situational factors, including the presence of jealousy.

Language: en

Keywords

domestic violence; homicide; intimate partner homicide‐suicide; intimate partner violence; suicide