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Few months ago, on March 17, two daughters of Van Cliburn, an award-winning pianist, were found dead on their Benbrook home (Parry, 2016). Police reports revealed that Sofya Tsygankova, the estranged wife of Cliburn and the mother of the victims, killed her daughters by smothering them with pillow (Parry, 2016). This case is just one of the many cases of filicide ever reported. Merriam-Webster (2015) defines filicide as “the murder of one’s own daughter or son.” Each gut-wrenching case of filicide makes people’s mind wonder about how parents can possible cause an end to the lives of their children when most parents would actually give up their own lives just to make sure that their kids are safe. There are many possible questions regarding the topic of filicide. In order to have a better understanding of this issue, it is imperative to take a look at the differences between the mothers and fathers who commit filicide and the motivations behind such crime.
Several risk factors for maternal filicide have been identified, and not all of these are similar to the risk factors for paternal filicide. First of all, mental illnesses have been strongly associated with maternal filicide. Based on the analysis of Friedman et al., “a history of suicidality and depression or psychosis and past use of psychiatric services” are quite common among mothers who kill their kids (as cited in West, 2007). Moreover, maternal filicide also has social roots. Based on several studies, mothers who kill their children are often those who have no social life, those who are indigent, full-time care providers for the children and victims of domestic or marital violence (West, 2007). Even women’s childhood experiences influence her likelihood to commit filicide later in life. According to Crimmins, Langley, Brownstein, and Spunt, some women who killed their children received poor mothering during their childhood due to several causes, such as maternal abuse, maternal absence, alcoholism, or the mother’s mental illness (as cited in West, 2007). All of these risk factors have been accounted for based on the analysis of past cases.
There are also risk factors associated with paternal filicide. Unlike maternal filicide, fathers who kill their children are not often associated with mental health illness (Bourget, Grace, and Whitehurst, 2007). Instead, life stressors play as strong triggers of paternal filicide. These include financial problems, marital problems, or fear of separation (Bourget, Grace, and Whitehurst, 2007). Also, the children being killed by their fathers are often victims of persistent physical abuse. In fact, several researchers have reported that a number of paternal filicide cases “include attempts to control the child's behavior, and misinterpretation of the child's behavior” (Bourget, Grace, and Whitehurst, 2007). In other words, poor parenting skills of fathers may cause them to kill their children even if the act is unintentional.
All of the previously mentioned factors only increase the risk of maternal and paternal filicide, but these are not considered as certain causes behind crimes. Parents are motivated by different reasons to kill their children. Based on 131 cases of filicide, Philip Resnick identified five categories of motivations of parents which drive them to commit the crime (West, 2007). These include altruism (parents believe, for some reason, that it is in the best interest of children to be dead), acute psychosis (parents suffer from psychosis), unwanted child (parents kill children for their own interest), accident (unintentional killing of child due to abuse), and spouse revenge (killing one’s child to inflict pain on the partner) (West, 2007). These are the major reasons behind the unthinkable actions of some parents against their children.
Overall, there truly are differences between the risk factors associated with mothers and fathers who commit this crime. There are also different motivations behind every filicide case. However, one fact remains the same; it continues to be one of the most horrifying types of crime ever committed in human history.
References
Bourget, D., Grace, J., and Whitehurst, L. (2007). A review of maternal and paternal filicide. Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, 35. Retrieved http://www.jaapl.org/content/35/1/74.full
Filicide (2015). Merriam Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filicide
Parry, H. (2016). Bandaged wife of pianist appears in court and pleads not guilty to murdering their two young daughters six days after she found ‘covered in blood going crazy.’ Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3505582/Arraignment-set-pianists-wife-accused-kids-deaths.html
Shelton, J.L., Hoffer, T., & Muirhead, Y. (2015). Behavioural analysis of maternal filicide. New York, NY: Springer.
West, S. (2007). An overview of filicide. Psychiatry, 4. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2922347/
