Invisible Victims: Exploring Gendered Trends in Youth Intimate Partner Homicide

Abstract

AbstractIntimate partner homicide (IPH) constitutes the most extreme form of intimate partner violence. While this violent crime affects many of women all around the world, little is known about this phenomenon when perpetrated against young victims. To date, no study has investigated trends of IPHs involving young victims. This study therefore aimed to investigate trends of IPHs in Sweden between 1990 and 2017, disaggregated by age-group and gender. Using register data, this study compared opposite-sex relationship IPH committed against young (≤ 25 years) and against adult (≥ 26 years) individuals, disaggregated by gender. Using poisson regression modelling, our study demonstrates that while rates of IPH against adult women has declined, the rate involving adolescent and young adult women has not. Our study also indicated a decreasing trend of IPH against adult men, albeit not significant. In conclusion, while IPH committed against adult women demonstrated a decrease over time, our findings suggest that IPH against young female victims has remained stable the past 27 years. As youth IPH has been a neglected subject of research, these findings suggest that the policies to combat IPV and IPH may not be adapted and tailored for the younger population.