Page 57 - 5th APA Conference Program Book Final
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Categories
6. Family Formation and Dissolution, Family and Kinship
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between husband’s or wife’s perceived utility of having a child and family
formation in contemporary Japan. Although vast literature on subject of family formation are based on a perspective
in which a couple has a child when their utility of having a child is larger than one of not having a child, few studies
empirically analyzed the relationship between their utility and birth. I constructed a perceived utility score using a
longitudinal data from the Generations and Gender Survey in Japan (JGGS-1) in 2004 and JGGS-2 which followed
up JGGS-1 in 2007. Controlling duration of marriage and family size, a wife’s perceived utility score has a statistically
significant relationship with probability of birth sequentially from 2004 and 2007 and a husband’s perceived utility
score doesn’t have a statistically significant relationship with it. Large gender differences in housework and
childcare persist in Japan. Most husbands don’t spend time for childcare and husbands’ perceived utility don’t have
an impact on their decision whether having a child or not.
48 The long echo of war. Early-life exposure to armed conflict and female
experiences of intimate partner violence
Orsola Torrisi
The London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
Categories
6. Family Formation and Dissolution, Family and Kinship
Abstract
Does violence beget violence? While there are reasons to expect a link between armed conflict and future
victimisation in intimate relationships, empirical evidence on the association is scant and rarely considers the age
at exposure to war. This paper examines the legacy of experiencing armed violence in key developmental ages on
women’s later risk of domestic abuse in four ex-Soviet conflict-torn countries. I use cross-national data on intimate
partner violence (IPV) from the Demographic and Health Survey and geo-referenced information from the Uppsala
Conflict Data Program. Exploiting cohort and spatial variation in conflict exposure, I find a positive relationship
between armed violence and IPV, particularly physical and sexual abuse, for women exposed to conflict in early
childhood (ages 0-10). Results hold for both lifetime and past-year domestic abuse and are not driven by migration.
Among testable channels, I find no association between early-age conflict exposure and greater tolerance of IPV in
women. Conversely, for men, war in late teen ages (16-19) correlates positively with attitudes condoning
violence against female partners. Normalisation of the use of violence in future perpetrators rather than
desensitisation to abuse in victims appears one plausible mechanism explaining the long-term impact of armed
conflict on intimate relationship quality.
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