Risk factors associated to a child’s homicidal behavior toward a pair Factores de riesgo asociados a la conducta homicida de un niño hacia un par

Abstract

Cases of homicidal children are scarce, but they have great social and legislative impact, leading to the study of risk and protector factors of early criminal activity. Given the only record in Chile of a homicidal child, the objective of this study was to analyze the individual and contextual risk factors associated with such homicidal behavior of a child under 10 years of age toward a pair. A unique case design was used that involved a multidisciplinary diagnosis, with neuropsychological, individual, and family, clinical, and psychiatric evaluations. The main findings are scarce cognitive flexibility in the child and emotional feedback in their family relationships, which would be associated with risk factors – family education guidelines, personality characteristics, and use of time (playing violent video games – and could explain the homicidal behavior, where it would be difficult for the child to stop the violent behavior once initiated, in an emotionally demanding context.