Violence, Power, and Work within Couples: Evidence from a German Panel Study

The article examines to what extent economic dependence increases the likelihood of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in Germany. Most prior research on IPV in Germany has thematically been focused on the relationship between violence and health or has used data sources based on non-probability samples, small sample sizes, and cross-sectional data. Large-scale panel analyses on violence, work, and the socio-economic situation of couples in Germany are as of yet lacking. Within the framework of an economic power resource approach, this study aims to investigate the impact of economic dependencies on intimate partner violence using the German Family Panel pairfam. Results of linear probability models show that being unemployed, having children, and being unsatisfied with the household finances, as indicators of economic dependence, significantly increase the risk of experiencing IPV. A range of sensitivity checks corroborate these findings. Using a probability-based sample, our study is thus one of the first to show that economic dependency plays a crucial role for the risk of experiencing IPV for women in Germany.