Young Women and Violence in Russia: A Study of Homicide Victimization Rates

Natalia S. Gavrilova, University of Chicago
Victoria G. Semyonova, Ministry of Health, Russia
Galina N. Evdokushkina, Ministry of Health, Russia
Alla E. Ivanova, Ministry of Health, Russia
Leonid A. Gavrilov, University of Chicago

In 2001, homicide became the leading cause of external mortality for Russian women. This paper attempts to understand the underlying factors of rapid increase in homicide victimization rates of young women in Russia. During the last 20 years, male-female homicide victimization ratio of young adults (20-24) declined from 4.54 in 1981 to 3.50 in 2001. Thus, homicide victimization rate of young females grew faster compared to young males, particularly in the 1990s. This tendency was not observed for middle-aged females: male-female ratio at age 40-44 was 2.65 in 1981 and rose to 4.19 in 2001. In this study, we conduct regional analyses of homicide victimization rates for young females, using multivariate regression and factor analyses with social-economic variables taken as covariates. Correlations of homicide with other causes of death are also studied.