Intergenerational Persistence in Intimate-Partner Violence

Abstract

We study the intergenerational persistence of intimate-partner violence (IPV) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Women who report that their fathers physically abused their mothers are 25.9 percentage points more likely to experience IPV. Place and ethnicity explain one third of the persistence variation, with no additional variation explained by other observed socioeconomic factors.Women who report that their mothers were IPV victims are more likely to find IPV acceptable, which is not explained by a rationalization of their own victimization. IPV persistence is stronger in ethnicities with lower IPV prevalence, emphasizing the role of parental IPV relative to its cultural salience.