PATTERNS OF SPOUSAL HOMICIDE IN NIGERIA

PREVALENCE, PROPHYLAXES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY

Abstract

This paper was an in-depth analysis of patterns, causes and solutions of spousal homicide in contemporary Nigeria society. In recent times, the marital milieu has witnessed spates of killings on both the sides of men and women, who were once happily married as husband and wife. This analysis was approached through a thorough review of trends of spousal murder as reported in Nigerian Newspapers from 2016 to 2020. The analysis found that several factors such as jealousy, self-defense, suspicion of infidelity, spousal abuse, poor anger management, fear; among other factors were the common precipitating factors in spousal homicide. The analysis further showed that both genders were culpable in this phenomenon but husbands were more likely to kill a spouse more than their wives. Also, most of these killings were perpetrated in the residential homes of the couples. The analysis also found that spousal homicide transcends age, educational qualification and financial status. In order to deepen the study, qualitative research method was used to unravel the phenomenon. Sixty married participants (30 men and 30 women) whose ages range from 35-50 years with mean age of 40.1 and standard deviation of 1.4 were selected and interviewed in Awka. Thematic and descriptive statistics were adopted for data analyses. 11 themes of causes and 7 themes of solutions of spousal homicide emerged. Based on the foregoing, approaches on how to ameliorate homicide and implications of this trend in spousal homicide on psychotherapy practice in Nigeria were discussed