Have you ever wondered why someone would ever murder somebody?
A top psychologist has argued that there are three types of mothers that are most likely to raise a murderer.
Dr Elizabeth Yardley, the Director of Birmingham City University's Centre for Applied Criminology, outlined the three distinct types in an article for the Huffington Post.
She explained: “I argue that mothers matter more [than fathers] in the making of murderers because of the inherently gendered nature of society.
“We expect mothers to be selfless nurturers and primary caregivers – expectations we take for granted and apply to all.”
Here are the three types of mothers that are most likely to raise a murderer, according to Dr Yardley.
Anti-Mother
According to Dr Yardley, Anti-Mothers were raised in brutal homes, and were more often than not victims of abuse.
In turn, they create a new generation of damaged children who grow up to be damaged adults.
Although, she is keen to state not every person who grows up in such a household follows that pattern of behaviour.
Dr Yardley used Fred West’s mum Daisy, who “actively abused and neglected her children”, as an example.
West went on to murder at least 12 people between 1967 and 1987 with his wife Rose.
Uber Mother
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Uber Mothers are also scarred by their childhood, according to Dr Yardley.
But instead of coming from abusive households, they are influenced by factors such as ethnicity, poverty and being born out of wedlock.
Uber Mothers tend to micromanage their children so they have everything they themselves missed out on.
By doing so they "become mother-managers who carefully chart the childhood and adolescence of their sons and constantly struggle to keep them on course”.
As an example, Dr Yardley uses GP Harold Shipman’s mother Vera.
She explained: The mother of Shipman strove to cope with the circumstances that life threw at them.
"Wanting the best for their children, they encouraged their sons to be like others, hoping they would grow up to be men who looked and acted like other men.”
Shipman nursed his mother when she died, and he was reportedly “fascinated” by how she reacted to morphine.
He went on to go to medical school, and years later he is believed to have killed more than 250 by giving them morphine overdoses.
Passive Mother
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Passive mothers “fear the judgement that society may impose on their children”, said Dr Yardley.
She added: “These mothers have lived out their lives following the rules, not crossing the lines, fulfilling social expectations. They have always been quiet, passive, just ticking along.”
“Therefore when their children begin to bend the rules and cross society’s moral and legal boundaries the fear of labelling compels them to respond in the only way they know – denial and inaction.”
As an example she uses the mothers of Dennis Nilsen and Rose West, who were both in denial.
They looked the other way instead of confronting or discussing certain behaviours.
Nilsen would go on to murder 12 young men in the Soho area of London.
Meanwhile, West went on to abuse her own children alongside her husband Fred.
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