Attitudes About Wife-Beating and Incidence of Domestic Violence in India: An Instrumental Variables Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores how spousal violence varies with respect to women’s attitudes regarding acceptability of violence. This association is important to investigate because increased justification of marital violence by women can reduce their likelihood of seeking help or fleeing the violent marriage, which in turn could increase their risk of facing spousal violence in the future. Using nationally representative data from India and after controlling for the potential endogeneity of women’s attitudes, results suggest a strong positive link between attitudes regarding violence and the incidence of violence. The findings highlight the difficulties confronted in dismantling the problem of marital violence.