A total of 16,595 spouse homicides were examined, accounting for 8.8 percent of all homicides and a spouse homicide rate of 1.6 per 100,000 married persons. The study indicates that the risk of being killed by one's spouse is 1.3 times greater for wives than for husbands. The rate of spouse homicide was 8.4 times higher for blacks than for whites. Black husbands were more likely to be killed by their spouses than were black wives or white husbands or wives. Interracial marriages produced more spousal violence than did intraracial union, and spouses with greater differences between their ages were more prone to homicide than were spouses who were closer in age. While the risk of spouse homicide declined by more than 45 percent between 1976 and 1985 for black husbands and wives, it remained the same for white wives and husbands. Firearms were used to perpetrate 71.5 percent of spouse homicides from 1976 to 1986. Demographic patterns for spouse homicides and spouse abuse were found to be similar and indicate that the causes of the two crimes may be similar. 42 references. (Author abstract modified)