Economic Distress and Intimate Violence: Testing Family Stress and Resources Theories

Abstract

Hypotheses shaped by family stress and resource theories about the impact of household economic indicators on the risk of violence against women in intimate relationships are tested with a data set built from the initial two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the 1990 U.S. Census. Measures of employment status, job conditions, and economic well‐being for male and female partners are examined with logistic regression analyses as predictors of the odds of male‐to‐female intimate violence. Results underline the importance that partners attach to each other's work performance and their feelings of financial well‐being in assessing whether job holding and household income serve to elevate or reduce the risk of intimate partner violence toward women.