Research and resources on links between intimate partner violence and suicide

In recent months, there has been increased media coverage of the links between intimate partner violence and suicide. In the UK, new estimates of domestic violence-related suicides and the culpable homicide conviction of Kimberley Milne’s estranged husband have received significant media attention.

Furthermore, in October 2025, the Australian Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs adopted an inquiry into the relationship between domestic, family, and sexual violence (DFSV) and suicide.

Strategies to combat suicide almost never account for family violence – especially violence that is still happening. Manatū Hauora | the Ministry of Health is currently seeking feedback on their draft Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which will set the direction for how the health system improves mental health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders over the next ten years. This consultation is an opportunity to strengthen visibility of the links between intimate partner violence and suicide in Aotearoa. Consultation is open until 18 May 2026.

Vine has brought together a collection of research and media about the links between intimate partner violence and suicide with an additional focus on Aotearoa-specific resources.

A note on definitions: Much of the research referenced in this News Story discusses intimate partner violence - violence that is directed at a current, or recent, intimate partner. However, a range of terms are used across the research we reference including intimate partner violence, domestic violence and family violence. When discussing specific pieces of research we mirror the terminology used by the authors. For more discussion on these terms see our Vine Key Terms page.

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Intimate partner violence and suicide are closely linked

Te Tāhū Hauora | Health Quality and Safety Commission's report on femicide (deaths related to gender-based violence against women and girls) shows that 63% of maternal suicides between 2006 and 2023 had a police-reported record of family violence.

Research undertaken by Women’s Refuge shows that women’s suicides are often linked to family violence and its impacts. They found that women who have experienced violence are three times as likely to have attempted suicide in the last year, and that family violence is the biggest contributor to health burden (including mental health burden) for women of reproductive age.

The research identified common motivations for suicide when experiencing family violence including:

• Seeing no other way out of the family violence situation
• Believing there was no chance for a satisfying life ahead
• Being made to feel worthless, or told they were worthless
• Feeling powerless over their own lives and trapped by the perpetrator
• Coming up against hostile or unhelpful systems.

Gulliver and Fanslow found that women were more likely to report they had thought about taking their own life if they also reported that their partner's behaviour had impacted on their mental health, were current or former users of recreational drugs, had experienced a stillbirth/abortion/miscarriage, or had experienced emotional abuse in the previous 12 months.

Research from Dr Terry Dobbs notes that the ongoing process of colonisation contributes to Aotearoa’s disproportionate rates of wāhine and kōtiro Māori suicides, which reflects trends in other settler-colonial states and their rates of Indigenous women’s suicides. Colonisation undermines protective factors against suicide and gender-based violence including whānau structures, indigenous gender roles and gender identities, and the inherent mana of wāhine. This research discusses the need for a paradigm shift away from a solely Western biomedical model of wellbeing to include te ao Māori understanding of wellbeing and “life course approaches” that reflect te ao Māori worldviews. This includes seeking opportunities to manaaki (intervene and prevent) throughout the life course of an individual and their whānau. These approaches help ensure that “signs and signals” of suicide and violence are anticipated and addressed by services and agencies before they manifest and are responded to in culturally safe ways if they do appear.

For further reading on Māori suicide prevention in Aotearoa, see Māori Suicide Prevention Research, Policy & Practice (2020).

Research by VISION in the UK found around half of people who attempted suicide in the past year had experienced violence from a partner at some point in their life, and one in four experienced violence from a partner in the preceding year.

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) have published their submission to the Australian inquiry on DFSV and suicide. Their submission highlights the clear link between DFSV victimisation and suicide risk and makes recommendations to strengthen intervention and prevention responses.

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Perpetrators of intimate partner violence are also at risk of suicide – and at risk of killing others when they do so

The Family Violence Death Review Committee’s 2021 submission on firearms regulation recorded 26 family violence deaths between 2009 and 2018 that involved a firearm. Where a firearm was used, there was an associated suicide in 7 death events, and multiple deaths recorded in 3 death events. For slightly over 50% of death events, the offender was a licensed gun holder.

VISION’s research found that people who use violence against their partners also tend to have worse mental health, and mental health services present an opportunity for intervention with this group.

Australian research from CEVAW notes perpetrator threats of suicide are often used as part of a broader pattern of coercive control. They also note that women’s homicides at the hands of their intimate partners can be misclassified as suicides.

Research from Dr Jessica Woolley summarises the literature on threats of self-harm and suicide as a form of family violence and as a documented risk factor for intimate partner homicide. This research also explores unintended consequences of current justice responses to suicide threats where family violence is present: namely, addressing such threats only in a mental health context can create barriers to victim/survivor safety.

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Intimate partner violence can create suicide risk for others in the household or whānau

CEVAW notes this is particularly true for children and young people, who can be victims of intimate partner violence, or who can witness and experience violence from family members.

Vine’s Issues Paper 3 reviews the evidence on the frequency with which intimate partner violence and child maltreatment co-occur. It notes that men are more likely than women to perpetrate intimate partner violence witnessed by children and reiterates both the disruption to mother-child relationships due to intimate partner violence and the poor fathering that can accompany perpetration of intimate partner violence.

A Family Violence Death Review Committee 2017 position brief notes the need to address intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect together and avoid practice influenced by a ‘failure to protect’ approach.

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Selected bibliography

Aotearoa

Femicide: Deaths resulting from gender-based violence in Aotearoa New Zealand | Kōhuru Wahine: nā te ririhau ā-ira i te whenua o Aotearoa – Health Quality and Safety Commission (2025).

Family Violence and Suicide: Responding Well to Risk – National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges (2024).

Exploring risk factors for suicidal ideation in a population-based sample of New Zealand women who have experienced intimate partner violence – Gulliver, P. and Fanslow, J. (2013), Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Whanaungatanga: creating opportunities that support wāhine and kōtiro Māori from kāhupo to mauri ora – Dobbs, T. (2025), Vine – Violence Information Aotearoa.

Whāia Te Mauriora - In Pursuit of Healing: Theorising connections between soul healing, tribal self-determination and Māori suicide prevention in Aotearoa / New Zealand – Lawson-Te Aho, K. (2013), Victoria University of Wellington.

Response to Public Consultation on Gun Regulations – Joint Response from the Family Violence Death Review Committee, Suicide Mortality Review Committee and the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee – Health Quality and Safety Commission (2021).

Understanding connections and relationships: Child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and parenting – Murphy, C., Paton, N., Gulliver, P., & Fanslow, J. (2013), Vine – Violence Information Aotearoa.

Six reasons why we cannot be effective with either intimate partner violence or child abuse and neglect unless we address both together – Family Violence Death Review Committee (2017).

Counting ourselves: findings from the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand trans & non-binary health survey – Yee, A. et. al. (2025), University of Waikato.

An affront to her Mana: young Māori mothers’ experiences of intimate partner violence – Dhunna, S., Lawton, B., and Cram, F. (2021), Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Māori Suicide Prevention Research, Policy & Practice – Lawson-Te Aho, K. and McClintock, K. (2020), University of Otago & Te Rau Ora.

International

VISION Policy Briefing - Domestic violence and abuse and mental and physical health – Blom, N. et. al. (2025), University of London.

Deaths by suicide in the context of domestic and family violence: Examining context, prevention and responses – Douglas, H. et. al. (2025), Academy of Social Sciences Australia & CEVAW.

ANROWS submission to the Inquiry into the relationship between domestic, family and sexual violence and suicide - Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, (2026).

Policing perpetrator suicide threats in family violence cases: competing priorities and contemporary challenges – Woolley, J. (2024), Policing and Society.

Domestic violence and suicide in women under the care of mental health services in the UK, 2015–2021: a national observational study – Turnball, P. et. al. (2025), The Lancet Regional Health.

Domestic homicides and suspected victim suicides 2020-2024: Year 4 report – Hoeger, K. et. al. (2025), Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme & National Police Chiefs’ Council.

"The person most likely to kill a victim of domestic abuse……is themselves*": 66 ways to reduce domestic abuse related suicides – Woodhouse, T. (2025), Churchill Fellowship.