Inter-spousal violence in young married couples in India: differentials in love and arranged marriages

Kabir Pal, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Until recently, a little is explored about the differential of spousal violence in love and arranged marriages. The present study examines the association between the types of marriage i.e. arranged or love marriage and the domestic violence such as physical, emotional and sexual. The study is based on the data from "Youth in India: Situations and Needs" conducted in 2006-2007. Bi-variate and Multivariate estimates have been used to establish the statistical association. Result reveals that the percentage of physical and emotional violence among the young married couples is higher in love marriages. Result from the multivariate analysis controlling the confounding factors shows that women in "love" marriages are almost one and half times more likely to experience physical violence than those in traditional arranged marriages. Similar results are seen for the emotional violence which is 1.5 times more likely to happen in love marriages than arranged marriage.