COVID-19, Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Remote Work, Isolation and Bargaining Power

Louis-Philippe Beland, Abel Brodeur, Joanne Haddad and Derek Mikola

No 13332, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on domestic violence and family stress. Our empirical analysis relies on a unique online survey, Canadian Perspective Survey Series, that allow us to disentangle the mechanisms through which COVID-19 may affect family stress and domestic violence. We find no evidence that employment status and work arrangements are related to higher self-reported levels of family stress and violence in the home due to confinement, suggesting that remote working on a large scale does not lead to family violence. In contrast, we find that the inability to meet financial obligations and maintaining social ties significantly increase reported family stress and domestic violence. These findings are consistent with two alternative mechanisms: social isolation and decreased bargaining power for women. Last, we provide suggestive evidence that receiving financial relief does not mitigate the effect of financial worries on domestic violence and family stress. We conclude that targeted programs supporting victims of domestic violence may be more effective.

Keywords: family stress; domestic violence; lockdown; COVID-19; isolation and remote work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 I18 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published - published as 'Determinants of Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Lessons from the COVID-19 Outbreak' in: Canadian Public Policy, 2021, 47 (3), 439-459

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp13332.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Covid-19, family stress and domestic violence: Remote work, isolation and bargaining power (2020)
Working Paper: Covid-19, Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Remote Work, Isolation and Bargaining Power (2020)
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:iza:izadps:dp13332

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().