A Comparison of U.S. and Canadian Findings on Uxoricide Risk for Women with Children Sired by Previous Partners

Abstract

The 1997 work of Daly, Wiseman and Wilson concludes that women with children from previous intimate partners were at significantly higher risk of murder by present partners than women whose children were the offspring of their current partner. Using an evolutionary psychological perspective, Daly et al. found that, among Hamilton, Ontario's population of women with male partners and coresident minor children, 7% had children who were not those of the current partner. Yet such women accounted for 50% of all uxoricides (wife killings). The present research replicates that study for Houston, Texas during 1985 to 1994. Our analysis reveals that families including minor step-children represented less than 20% of the city's two-parent households at large; yet 48% of all uxoricides were of women with coresident minor children from previous partners. These studies lend strong support to evolutionary psychological theories of homicide. Some implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.