Characteristics of Intimate Partner Homicide Against Older Women: Why Age Matters, A Brief Note

Although women of all ages are at risk of being killed by an intimate partner, little attention has considered intimate partner homicide (IPH) against older women. Existing research suggests IPH characteristics differ between younger and older women, but no work has considered whether these characteristics vary across older women by age. Current work is hindered by the tendency to define "older women" using a single age category (such as over age 50). This practice implicitly equates women in their 50s with those 80 or older and likely masks key differences. This brief note uses incident data from the National Violent Death Reporting System to explore whether characteristics of IPH against older women vary across age subgroups. Findings obtained from descriptive statistics highlight clear distinctions between women in their 50s and 60s and those over 70. IPH against women in their 50s and 60s was more likely to involve prior intimate partner violence as compared to incidents involving women over age 70. In contrast, IPH against women over age 70 was more likely to involve a homicide-suicide or an intimate partner who was a caregiver as compared to women in their 50s or 60s. While firearms were used in a majority of IPH incidents for all age subgroups, the proportion of firearm-involved IPH increased with age. Overall, the findings emphasize the need to incorporate age in studies of IPH against older women. To illustrate opportunities for such work, this brief note discusses avenues for future research to investigate these findings and IPH risk factors with age subgroups in mind.