Homicide-Suicide in Thailand: A Study of Newspaper Reports, 2017 – 2021
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Abstract
Objective: To investigate the incidence of homicide-suicide in Thailand, its characteristics and the relationships between perpetrators and victims
Methods: We conducted homicide-suicide reports form 3 major Thailand daily newspapers over a five-year period, from 2017 to 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the frequency and percentage. Chi- square test was used to explore the association.
Results: A total of 225 homicide-suicides occurred, with 225 perpetrators and 296 victims (only one victim per case in 80% of cases). 92% of the perpetrators were male. They were aged between 41 and 50 years and 32% of them were employed. The victims were predominantly female (77%) and aged between 31 and 40 (23.3%). 58.1% of victims were related to their perpetrators by an intimate binding. In the majority of the events (76%), the motivation was a relationship problem (intimate partner, familial or extrafamilial). Perpetrators mainly used firearms in both homicides (69.6%) and suicides (64.4%). The majority of perpetrators committed suicide within one hour of the homicide (69.3%), During which time, the events occurred in the same location (90.4%, p<0.001) and the same methods were employed (79.5%, p < 0.001). Cofactors of interest were alcohol or drug use (5.9%), psychiatric symptoms (4.8%), and caregiving situation (3%). 55% of perpetrators aged over 60 years had multiple medical illness.
Conclusion: The incidence of homicide-suicide events and the characteristics of perpetrators and victims are consistent with previous research in Thailand and other countries, except for few characteristics such as age-range.
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