Development Studies

Who’s your neighbour? Social influences on domestic violence.

The research shows that domestic violence is not only driven by intra-household factors but also observable changes at a neighbourhood level.

Authors

Manini Ojha, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

Mehreen Mookerjee, College of Business, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Sanket Roy, School of Business Administration, American University of Sharjah, University City, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Summary

We examine the impact of neighbourhood physical domestic violence on the likelihood of being exposed to physical abuse within a household using nationally representative data from the fourth wave of the National Family Health Survey of India. 

To address potential endogeneity issues in analysing neighbourhood influences, we utilise an instrumental variables approach that compares households in the same state but different neighbourhoods. 

Using exogenous variation in neighbouring women’s exposure to parental violence in her natal family as an instrument for average neighbourhood domestic violence, we find that a 1 standard deviation increase in neighbourhood domestic violence leads to a 0.2 standard deviation increase in the probability of domestic violence within a household. 

We establish that domestic violence is not only driven by intra-household factors but also observable changes at a neighbourhood level.

Published in: The Journal of Development Studies

To read the full article, please click here