SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Abant Tıp Dergisi / 2025 / Cilt: 14 Sayı: 3

Media Representations of Maternal and Paternal Filicide Cases: Child Murders

Hasan Mervan Aytaç(SAĞLIK BİLİMLERİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ, İSTANBUL BAŞAKŞEHİR ÇAM VE SAKURA ŞEHİR SAĞLIK UYGULAMA VE ARAŞTIRMA MERKEZİ, DAHİLİ TIP BİLİMLERİ BÖLÜMÜ, PSİKİYATRİ ANABİLİM DALI)0000-0002-1053-6808
Zahra Nourifar(SAĞLIK BİLİMLERİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ, HAMİDİYE SAĞLIK BİLİMLERİ ENSTİTÜSÜ, KLİNİK PSİKOLOJİ ANABİLİM DALI, KLİNİK PSİKOLOJİ (DR))0009-0003-8627-1679
Asuman Öztürk(ADLİ TIP KURUMU AĞRI ADLİ TIP ŞUBE MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ)0000-0002-3475-0606
Mustafa Özçetin(İSTANBUL ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ÇOCUK SAĞLIĞI ENSTİTÜSÜ)0000-0003-0697-4271
Sadik Toprak(ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY, İSTANBUL FACULTY OF MEDICINE, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, DEPARTMENT OF FORENSIC MEDICINE)0000-0002-8065-1334
Samet Kıyak(BALIKESİR ÜNİVERSİTESİ, TIP FAKÜLTESİ, DAHİLİ TIP BİLİMLERİ BÖLÜMÜ, ADLİ TIP ANABİLİM DALI)0000-0003-3691-6355
Pages
160–166
Publication Date
2025-12-30
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Only psychiatric disorders mentioned in online news were reviewed, and it was found that only 7 women were diagnosed with psychotic disorders.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Objective: This study aims to thoroughly examine and interpret the occurrence of crimes committed by parents against children aged 0-18 in Türkiye.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Sixty-nine cases were included in the study, ranging from January 2013 to December 2023.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Only psychiatric disorders mentioned in online news were reviewed, and it was found that only 7 women were diagnosed with psychotic disorders.
🔬Design:Review & Systematic Survey
📍Scope:2013 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Mother · Father · Baby

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to thoroughly examine and interpret the occurrence of crimes committed by parents against children aged 0-18 in Türkiye. The goal is to shed light on the formation of such crimes, explore them in detail, and identify alternative determining factors. Additionally, the aim is to reveal the profile of filicide, a crime encompassing multifaceted cultural factors, in Türkiye. Materials and Methods: Cases of filicide reported in online newspapers over the last ten years were investigated by entering relevant keywords (mother, father, baby, child, murder) into the Google search engine. The search language was determined as Turkish, and only murders committed in Türkiye were included. Sixty-nine cases were included in the study, ranging from January 2013 to December 2023. Results: It has been determined that out of the 69 filicide cases included in our study, 34 were female children (49.3%), and 21 were male children (30.4%). The gender of 14 children (20.3%) could not be determined. Eighteen of the deceased children were murdered during the neonatal period, specifically within the first 24 hours of their lives. 48 of the perpetrators were female (69.6%), 16 were male (23.2%), and the gender of 5 (7.2%) could not be determined. Examining the methods used in filicides in our study reveals that the top three methods include the use of stabbing (23.2%), strangulation (20.3%), and blunt force trauma (head + other forms) (20.3%). Only psychiatric disorders mentioned in online news were reviewed, and it was found that only 7 women were diagnosed with psychotic disorders. Conclusion: As a result, having certain socio-demographic characteristics, information such as the methods used during the act, and the presence of mental disorders during the crime can play a critical role in determining the risk of filicide for clinicians and provide important clues.

🔖

Cite This Article

Aytaç, H. M., Nourifar, Z., Öztürk, A., Özçetin, M., Toprak, S., Kıyak, S. (2025). Media Representations of Maternal and Paternal Filicide Cases: Child Murders. Abant Tıp Dergisi, Cilt: 14 Sayı: 3, 160–166. https://doi.org/10.47493/abantmedj.1590536

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (31)

  1. West SG. An overview of filicide. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2007;4(2):48.
  2. Unicef. Hidden in plain sight. 2014.
  3. Flynn SM, Shaw JJ, Abel KM. Filicide: mental illness in those who kill their children. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e58981.
  4. Barone L, Carone N. Childhood abuse and neglect experiences, Hostile-Helpless attachment, and reflective functioning in mentally ill filicidal mothers. Attach Hum Dev. 2021;23(6):771-94.
  5. Özdemir DF, Evinç ŞG. Killing one’s own baby: a psychodynamic overview with clinical approach to filicide cases. Turk Psikiyatri Derg. 2021;32(3):201.
  6. Friedman SH, Horwitz SM, Resnick PJ. Child murder by mothers: a critical analysis of the current state of knowledge and a research agenda. Am J Psychiatry. 2005;162(9):1578-87.
  7. Campion JF, Cravens JM, Covan F. A study of filicidal men. Am J Psychiatry. 1988;145(9):1141-4.
  8. Bourget D, Grace J, Whitehurst L. A review of maternal and paternal filicide. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2007;35(1):74.
  9. Rodenburg M. Child murder by depressed parents. SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA; 1971.
  10. Marleau JD, Poulin B, Webanck T, Roy R, Laporte L. Paternal filicide: A study of 10 men. Can J Psychiatry. 1999;44(1):57-63.
  11. Jason J, Andereck ND. Fatal child abuse in Georgia: The epidemiology of severe physical child abuse. Child Abuse Negl. 1983;7(1):1-9.
  12. Brewster AL, Nelson JP, Hymel KP, Colby DR, Lucas DR, McCanne TR, Milner JS. Victim, perpetrator, family, and incident characteristics of 32 infant maltreatment deaths in the United States Air Force. Child Abuse Negl. 1998;22(2):91-101.
  13. Eke SM, Başoğlu S, Taktak Ş, Gökhan O. Analysis of the maternal filicide in terms of forensic medicine in Turkey: a clinical research. Noro Psikiyatri Ars. 2015;52(1):78.
  14. Berkol T, Aytaç HM. Psychosocial triggers associated with major depressive episodes in women applying to psychiatric outpatient clinic. Ortadoğu Tıp Derg. 2020;12(2):151-8.
  15. Aytaç HM, Berkol TD. The Association Between the Duration of Breastfeeding in Infancy and Adult Psychopathology: A Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey. Florence Nightingale J Nurs. 2022;30(3):281.
  16. Resnick PJ. Child murder by parents: a psychiatric review of filicide. Am J Psychiatry. 1969;126(3):325-34.
  17. West SG, Friedman SH, Resnick PJ. Fathers who kill their children: An analysis of the literature. J Forensic Sci. 2009;54(2):463-8.
  18. Brown T, Bricknell S, Bryant W, Lyneham S, Tyson D, Arias PF. Filicide offenders. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice [electronic resource]. 2019(568):1-17.
  19. Cooper A, Smith EL. Homicide trends in the United States, 1980–2008. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2011.
  20. Korbin JE. Incarcerated mothers' perceptions and interpretations of their fatally maltreated children. Child Abuse Negl. 1987;11(3):397-407.
  21. Willemsen J, Declercq F, Markey S, Verhaeghe P. The role of affect regulation in a case of attempted maternal filicide–suicide. Clin Soc Work J. 2007;35:215-21.
  22. Kunst JL. Fraught with the utmost danger: The object relations of mothers who kill their children. Bull Menninger Clin. 2002;66(1):19-38.
  23. Oberman M. Mothers who kill: Crosscultural patterns in and perspectives on contemporary maternal filicide. Int J Law Psychiatry. 2003;26:493-514.
  24. Putkonen H, Amon S, Almiron MP, Cederwall JY, Eronen M, Klier C, et al. Filicide in Austria and Finland-A register-based study on all filicide cases in Austria and Finland 1995-2005. BMC Psychiatry. 2009;9(1):1-9.
  25. Leveillee S, Marleau JD, Dube M. Filicide: A comparison by sex and presence or absence of self-destructive behavior. J Fam Violence. 2007;22:287-95.
  26. Aho AL, Remahl A, Paavilainen E. Homicide in the western family and background factors of a perpetrator. Scand J Public Health. 2017;45(5):555-68.
  27. Terp IM, Mortensen PB. Post-partum psychoses: clinical diagnoses and relative risk of admission after parturition. Br J Psychiatry. 1998;172(6):521-6.
  28. Hamilton JA, Harberger PN. Postpartum psychiatric illness: A picture puzzle. University of Pennsylvania Press; 2016.
  29. Hay PJ. Post-partum psychosis: which women are at highest risk? PLoS Med. 2009;6(2):e1000027.
  30. Altshuler LL, Hendrick V, Cohen LS. Course of mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period. J Clin Psychiatry. 1998;59(2):29-33.
  31. Knops GG. Postpartum mood disorders: a startling contrast to the joy of birth. Postgrad Med. 1993;93(3):103-16.