Personal elements in culture-based violence? The case of honor killing - a brief report

ABSTRACT

Honor killing is a global phenomenon that has been extensively studied in the sociological-cultural-patriarchal context. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether there are personality characteristics associated with attitudes toward honor killing. This research focuses on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and attitudes toward honor killing among 274 Israeli Arabs, using structured research questionnaires. The findings revealed a significant relationship between attitudes toward honor killings and personality characteristics of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The findings suggest that personality traits have a connection to attitudes toward honor killings, even though honor killings are cultural acts. This conclusion represents a novel finding in honor killing research, and has significant implications for both preventive and therapeutic discourse.

KEYWORDS:

• Big five
• honor killing
• Israeli Arabs
• personality traits
• violence
• five-factor model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.