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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Victoria Frye, DrPH¹, Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH², Melissa Tracy, MPH², and Susan Wilt, MS, DrPH³. (1) Center for Urban Epidemiological Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029-5202, 212-822-7291, vfrye@nyam.org, (2) Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1214 South University, Room 243, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, (3) Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 125 Worth Street, Room 315, CN #6, New York, NY 10013

Background: Lethal violence against women is a major public health and social problem; it is a human rights issue as well. Recent research into the influence of the neighborhood environment on homicide, which is numerically dominated by homicides of men, has identified several key environmental factors that influence risk, independent of individual-level factors. However there is less comparable data on homicides of women (femicide). As many more femicides than homicides of men are perpetrated by intimate partners, it is important to understand whether and how environmental factors uniquely influence intimate partner femicide. Objectives: The objective of this paper is to examine the contribution of select physical and social environmental factors on likelihood of intimate partner femicide as compared with non-intimate partner femicide and male homicide, while controlling for individual factors. Methods: Using Medical Examiner data on 1058 femicides occurring between 1990 and 1999 and archival information on 58 neighborhoods in New York City, we conducted a multi-level case-control analysis using GEE methods. Results: No single environmental characteristic uniquely contributed to risk of intimate partner femicide, above and beyond contributions from individual-level factors, as compared with either non-intimate partner femicides or male homicides. Conclusions: The neighborhood environmental characteristics assessed here are no more or less important to intimate partner femicide than other types of homicide. Further research into the role of the neighborhood environment is needed in order to identify whether factors not measured here are uniquely related to intimate partner femicide, informing community-based interventions to prevent intimate femicide.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

Describe the individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with femicide risk in New York City.
• Evaluate the potential pathways by which the neighborhood environment might influence lethal intimate partner violence against women.
• Identify potential strategies for working with neighborhoods to reduce women's risk of intimate partner femicide.

Keywords: Homicide, Domestic Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered