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Siblicide: The Psychology of Sibling Homicide

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Siblicide has been overlooked in both the family violence literature and homicide studies. This is unsurprising as sibling abuse research in general has remained on the periphery until recently and since then has tended to focus on nonlethal conflict, bullying, or bi-directional aggression. This chapter examines the available literature to present a comprehensive overview of this poorly understood phenomenon. We report on prevalence rates, the sociodemographic context of offenses, and the patterns and dynamics that underpin offender and victim characteristics – including age, birth order, gender, genetic-relatedness, race, and cultural collectivism. Individual risk factors such as the influence of psychopathology and substance use are explored, as well the impact of developmental disorders, that is, Autism and Asperger’s syndrome. The chapter will conclude by examining sibling homicide in the context of sociobiological and psychoanalytical perspectives.

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the Scientific Employment Stimulus - Institutional Call – CEECINST/00127/2018 and by national funds through FCT under the project UID04045/2020

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Psychology, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Inês Carvalho Relva

  2. Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, PRESTON, UK

    Roxanne Khan

  3. Research from the Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), Vila Real, Portugal

    Inês Carvalho Relva

Authors
  1. Inês Carvalho Relva
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  2. Roxanne Khan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inês Carvalho Relva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Ernestine Briggs

  2. School of Social Work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Javonda Williams

  3. Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School/Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Michelle Clayton

  4. New Orleans Child Advocacy Center, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Stacie LeBlanc

  5. School of Social Work - PhD Program, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Owner/Principle Consultant & Trainer, Russell Consulting Specialists, LLc, Vancouver, Washington, USA

    Amy Russell

  7. Executive Director, Arthur D. Curtis Children's Justice Center http://www.clark.wa.gov/cjc

    Amy Russell

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Relva, I.C., Khan, R. (2022). Siblicide: The Psychology of Sibling Homicide. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_288

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