Subjective Well-Being and Domestic Violence Among Ultra-Poor Women in Rural Bangladesh: Findings from a Multifaceted Poverty Alleviation Program

Chowdhury S. B. Jalal, Edward A. Frongillo (), Andrea M. Warren and Shibani Kulkarni
Additional contact information
Chowdhury S. B. Jalal: Nutrition International
Edward A. Frongillo: University of South Carolina
Andrea M. Warren: University of South Carolina
Shibani Kulkarni: University of South Carolina

Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 2022, vol. 43, issue 4, No 15, 843-853

Abstract: Abstract We evaluated a poverty-reduction program that targeted ultra-poor women in rural Bangladesh to promote economic and social improvement through income-generating activities and strengthening socio-political awareness. We hypothesized that ultra-poor women participating in the program would have lower domestic violence and depressive symptoms and higher subjective well-being, household economic status, and food security than non-participants. A quasi-experimental design with program and comparison arms and assessments at two times (i.e., baseline and end-line) was used. Analysis of covariance with linear multilevel random-intercept models adjusted for available baseline variables was used to estimate program-comparison differences at end-line for economic status, perceived economy, food insecurity, domestic violence, depressive symptoms, and subjective well-being. We also estimated the benefits attributable to the program for subjective well-being, food insecurity, and domestic violence. Women in the program arm had greater subjective well-being with a decrease in negative affect of life by 33.5% and dissatisfaction with life by 42.5%. The women in the program arm encountered 12% or fewer incidences of domestic violence than did the women in the comparison arm. Food insecurity reduced by an average of 14% due to the program. This poverty-reduction program helped in improving women’s access to and control of resources and their social awareness, thus empowering them and promoting economic, social, and psychological well-being. Poverty-reduction programs that acknowledge and address the social complexity of extreme poverty have the potential to effectively reach the ultra-poor who otherwise are often missed by traditional microcredit programs.

Keywords: Ultra-poor; Empowerment; Subjective well-being; Poverty-reduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-021-09801-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:43:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10834-021-09801-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/10834/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10834-021-09801-4

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Family and Economic Issues is currently edited by Joyce Serido

More articles in Journal of Family and Economic Issues from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().