Early-life exposure to political violence and domestic violence

Abstract

Globally, one in three women experiences domestic violence over their lifetimes. Yet, the factors that shape adult behavior toward domestic violence remain poorly understood. We examine the effect of exposure to political violence in early stages of life on likelihood of domestic violence in marital life. Combining household level survey with political violence datasets from 1988 to 2018, our findings show that it is the exposure of men to political violence that matters, but not the exposure of their wives. Furthermore, we show that the critical age bracket is between 4 and 6 years of age in which exposure to political violence seems to shape adult behavior toward domestic violence. This is true for physical and emotional violence. Moreover, exposure to political violence at almost any point in male individuals’ life increases their likelihood to perpetrate sexual violence on their wives. JEL classification: J12, J15, J16, O12