Intimate partner homicide: A meta-analysis of risk factors

Homicide in intimate relationships is one of the most prevalent causes of death for women worldwide. This meta-analysis aims to identify and integrate, through analytical and statistical methodologies, the risk factors associated with intimate partner homicide. The research was performed in different databases and led to the inclusion of 28 empirical articles in this meta-analysis. Only quantitative papers with a comparison group (non-fatal perpetrators, other homicides, intimate partner homicide followed by suicide) were considered for this meta-analysis. The results showed that the risk factors related to abusive couple dynamics (threatening the victim with a weapon, any kind of threatening, death threats, bottlenecks, stalking and controlling behaviours, abuse during pregnancy and physical violence) are associated with a higher probability of intimate partner homicide. Further studies should provide more clarification of the factors associated with this phenomenon to improve the efficiency of the criminal investigation of intimate partner homicides, making crime repression and the protection of victims more effective.
This study was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Center (PSI/01662), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC).