Legacy of violence: A study of intergenerational transmission of violence in India

Richa Kothari , School of Management Sciences
Zakir Husain, Presidency University
Diganta Mukherjee, United World Business School

Spousal violence is a persistent challenge to gender equality in both developing and developed countries. Recent studies are now reporting that spousal violence has negative externalities, with its effects spilling over to other family members who become co-victims. Such effects may be long run in nature and persist even after the attainment of adulthood. The present study examines the long run impact of witnessing IPV as a child on the likelihood of facing IPV as an adult. The study is undertaken for currently married women aged 15-49 years using the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey data (2019-21) for India, a fast-growing South Asian country with poor gender indicators. Econometric methods combining matching and the control function approach address the possibility of confounding variables affecting both the child witnessing IPV and her revictimization as an adult. The study also allows for under-reporting in both witnessing and facing IPV. We find that witnessing IPV as a child significantly increases the risk of becoming a victim as an adult, which is explained in terms of the theory of learned helplessness. The results call for identifying co-victims of IPV and offering them counselling services to reduce the adverse consequences of exposure to IPV.

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 Presented in Session 40. Flash Session Family Effects on Children