Community Violence and the Instability of Marriages and Cohabitations in Mexico

• In Event: 4246 - Violence

Abstract

I evaluate the link between exposure to local violence and the duration of women's first co-residential unions (marriages or cohabitations) using the case of Mexico. This country experienced a drastic increase in homicide rates after a shift in drug enforcement policy in 2006. I use event history analysis and individual union histories collected by a national survey in 2009 to assess whether exposure to both levels and increasing trends of violence predict risk of union dissolution. My results show that for first unions that started before the onset of the war on drugs, exposure to an increasing trend in local violence in the past two years is associated with a higher risk of union dissolution. These results are mainly driven by the less educated population. Overall, my findings suggest that local violence could be reinforcing socioeconomic inequality in affected communities, by disproportionately increasing the risk of union dissolution amongst already disadvantaged population.

Authors

• Monica Lisette Caudillo, University of Maryland

• Jaein Lee, University of Maryland, College Park