On intergenerational transmission of domestic violence: Pollak revisited

Abstract

We offer a reformulation of Pollak's model of domestic violence by incorporating a feedback relationship between the prevalence of wife abuse in a society and men's proclivity to violence at home and the impact of higher education. College educated women are significantly less likely to experience domestic violence and more likely to leave abusive partners. Moreover, husbands might become less hesitant to act violently if physical aggression were an accepted and pervasive part of family life in a society. Therefore, there might be a two-way relationship between the level of violence in the community and the level of violence at home.