The effects of marital status on adult female homicides in the United States

With data from the 1992 Mortality Detail File, we examine the effects of marital status on female homicide victimization in the United States. Multivariate logistic regression was fitted to all female homicide deaths occuring in 1992. Results indicate that, controlling for race, education, nativity, city size, region of the country, occupation, age, day of the week, and month of the year, divorced females were 55.3% more likely to be homicide victims than married females. Notably, single women did not differ from married women with respect to homicide risk. Finally, widowed women were significantly less likely to be homicide victims than married women. The results suggest a complicated relationship between marital status and female homicide victimization.