Citation

Litwin A, Perova E, Reynolds SA. Soc. Sci. Med. 2019; 238: e112462.

Affiliation

University of California, Berkeley, United States. Electronic address: sar48@berkeley.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112462

PMID

31476663

Abstract

We apply mixed methods to explore how a conditional cash transfer (CCT) may influence intimate partner violence (IPV). Qualitative interviews with female beneficiaries of Bolsa Familia, Brazil's CCT program, and service providers suggest positive, negative, and null associations between CCTs and IPV are all plausible. These associations result from a combination of economic and psychological motivations. We also use quantitative methods to examine if the expansion of Bolsa Familia between 2004 and 2009 affects the female homicide rate and marital separations. Using municipal level data in a difference-in-differences analysis, we find null associations between Bolsa Familia and female homicides. When we examine the impact on marriages and separations, indicative of a change in the reservation utility of women within the household, we find no impact on marriages but Bolsa Familia is associated with an increase in separations, and, to a greater extent, separations of couples with children. These results suggest Bolsa Familia impacts women's agency within the family, but not to the extent that it reduces the most extreme form of IPV.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Brazil; Conditional cash transfer; Female empowerment; Intimate partner violence; Mixed-methods research