“Household Debt and Relation to Intimate Partner Violence and Husbands’ Attitudes Toward Gender Norms: A Study Among Young Married Couples in Rural Maharashtra, India”
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Social norms around male dominance, control, and justification of violence play a crucial role in how economic stress like debt translates into IPV. Interventions targeting IPV need to include men and address both financial stress and the underlying gender beliefs that fuel violence. Economic programs focused only on women may miss critical opportunities to shift male-controlled financial behaviors and the gender norms that sustain them.
Objectives This study aimed to examine how household debt relates to husbands’ attitudes toward gender norms and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration among young married couples in rural Maharashtra, India. It also explored whether gender-based attitudes help explain the link between debt and IPV.
Methods Using baseline data from the CHARM (Counseling Husbands to Achieve Reproductive Health and Marital Equity) intervention study, the researchers analyzed surveys from 1,081 married men aged 18–30. The study used the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) scale and IPV attitude measures, alongside logistic and linear regression models, to assess the associations between debt, gender attitudes, and physical or sexual IPV reported by wives.
Intervention Details CHARM was a male-centered family planning and gender equity intervention delivered to young couples in rural Maharashtra. While this article used data from the baseline (pre-intervention) survey, the larger program aimed to promote reproductive health and equitable marital relationships.
Results About 20% of husbands reported household debt, and these men were significantly more likely to hold attitudes supportive of IPV and male dominance in relationships. Debt was associated with increased odds of both physical IPV (AOR = 1.4) and sexual IPV (AOR = 1.6), even after adjusting for demographics. While controlling for gender-based attitudes slightly reduced these associations, debt remained a strong independent predictor of sexual IPV.
Conclusions The study highlights that household debt is linked not only to financial stress but also to men’s adherence to traditional, inequitable gender norms, which contribute to IPV risk. The findings suggest that addressing economic hardship alongside gender attitudes may be key to reducing IPV among young rural couples.
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