Child homicides by stepfathers: A replication and reassessment of the British evidence

Nobes, Gavin, Panagiotaki, Georgia and Russell Jonsson, Kenisha (2019) Child homicides by stepfathers: A replication and reassessment of the British evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148 (6). pp. 1091-1102. ISSN 0096-3445

Preview

PDF (Accepted manuscript) - Accepted Version Download (840kB) | Preview

Abstract

Daly and Wilson (1994, 2008) reported that rates of fatal assaults of young children by stepfathers are over 100 times those by genetic fathers, and they explain the difference in evolutionary terms. Their study was replicated by comparing updated homicide data and population data from 3 surveys. This indicated that the risk to young stepchildren was approximately 16 times that to genetic children, and stepfathers were twice as likely to kill by beating. However, when we controlled for father’s age, the risk from cohabiting stepfathers was approximately 6 times greater. Above the age of 4 years, stepchildren were at no greater risk than genetic children. Children are at risk from fathers primarily when both are young and they do not live together; stepfathers’ apparent overrepresentation results largely from their relative youth and from many nonresidential perpetrators being labeled stepfathers. Other factors are also influential, but if these include stepparenthood, its impact is considerably less than previous researchers have claimed.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	stepfather,child homicide,evolutionary psychology,genetic relatedness,child maltreatment,sdg 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/peace_justice_and_strong_institutions
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Mental Health Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health)
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2018 09:30
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2025 00:42
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/67555
DOI:	10.1037/xge0000492

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item