Polygynous Unions and Intimate Partner Violence: A Social Interrogation of Risk Factors in Nigeria

• In Event: 4251 - Macro-micro Intersections of Gender Inequality

Abstract

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs within the social context of a family, the linkages between polygyny and IPV are rarely interrogated. Drawing on the case of Nigeria, I use data from the 2013 Demographic Health Survey to show that women who select into polygynous unions are disadvantaged relative to their partners in education, age, past marital status, earnings, and employment. Nonetheless, polygyny is associated with increases in sexual, physical, and emotional IPV in the last 12 months across regression, matching, and weighting models that control for selection on observable characteristics. However, a Rosenbaum Bounds sensitivity analysis suggests the presence of unobserved heterogeneity and differential selection into polygyny on unobserved characteristics. The conclusion strives to move beyond viewing polygyny as a “risk factor” for IPV, and towards an understanding of how selection into marriage is an important social process with implications for women’s health and wellbeing.

Author

• Julia Andrea Behrman, New York University