Schizophrenia and Violence:
A Bibliometric Review
Abstract
This bibliometric review study aims to describe the intellectual structure of the field, main research themes and potential research areas that could benefit from further investigation within the field of schizophrenia and violence. Results for keyword co-occurrence analysis, co-citation networks and bibliographic coupling indicate that the research has emerged from a “core” with a focus on schizophrenia, violence and mainly male populations. The field consisted of forensic, epidemiological and developmental perspectives, with the most cited publications being either cohort studies or meta-analyses, or research on violence risk assessments. Taken as a whole, these studies have been mainly concerned with quantifying the relationship between schizophrenia and violence, describing the trends and assessing the role of comorbidity. The findings also show how research priorities shifted over time. Early work mainly centered around clinical and diagnostic issues, whereas more recent studies have investigated the role of gender, age, and substance use disorders. The network analyses identify several interconnected research traditions, including forensic psychiatry, structured risk assessment and population based epidemiology, and other smaller bodies of work which investigate neurobiological and psychological mechanisms. Although these approaches are different, they all converge to a similar conclusion: schizophrenia is associated with an increased risk of violent behavior, but the significance of this association is heavily influenced by factors such as substance misuse, a history of offending and developmental issues. Despite substantial progress in the field, there are several important gaps that remain. Much of the existing evidence comes from studies of adult men, this means that older adults, adolescents and developmental changes across lifespans are relatively understudied. Research on schizophrenia with co-occurring psychiatric disorders also remains limited. Future research should prioritize longitudinal and developmental designs, widen representation beyond traditionally studied populations and strengthen integration across clinical, biological and psychosocial domains. Such efforts may improve understanding of violence risk in schizophrenia and inform effective prevention, intervention and clinical risk assessment strategies.
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