The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Domestic Violence Injury

• In Event: Gender-Based and Sexual Violence Victimization

Abstract

This study examined the consequences of domestic violence (DV) in light of the multiple changes to the lifestyles and routine activities of households during the Covid-19 pandemic using incident-level data from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Through logistic regressions, first, the odds of injury among DV victims, and then, the odds of severe injury among DV victims who experienced injury were examined. The pre-pandemic odds of these injurious outcomes were compared to these odds in two distinctive periods during the Covid-19 pandemic — March 2020-March 2021 and April 2021-December 2022. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Auzeen Shariati, George Mason University

• Yasemin Irvin-Erickson, George Mason University