A comprehensive typology for the biopsychosociocultural evaluation of child-killing behavior

J Forensic Sci. 1998 Nov;43(6):1112-8.

Abstract

The homicide of children by their parents has been reported across numerous cultural settings around the world and in many historical periods. A comprehensive and systematic understanding of parental child killing can be optimally obtained through a biopsychosociocultural approach. In this article we present the case of a woman who committed neonaticide. We illustrate the cultural formulation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and recommend that this formulation has a central role in the evaluation of cultural factors of parents who kill their children.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Cultural Characteristics*
  • Female
  • Forensic Psychiatry / methods
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infanticide / psychology*
  • Mothers / psychology*
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales*
  • Single Parent / psychology
  • Social Environment*