The Effect of Education, Income, Sex and Age on Spousal Abuse in Canada

The Effect of Education, Income, Sex and Age on Spousal Abuse in Canada

Spike Xu

University of Windsor

December 11, 2013

The Effect of Education, Income, Sex and Age on Spousal Abuse in Canada

The problem of family violence has recently received enormous attention, and spousal abuse has been recognized as the major problem. According to Maire (2013), spousal violence accounted about one-quarter of violent crime in Canada. It is more likely for a woman who is less educated and has low income to be injured by a spouse (Marsh, 1993). In this aspect, it is vital to highlight that education, income and sex differences have influence on spousal abuse. Also, age is a relevant factor which can affect spousal violence (Nakhaie, 1998).

The purpose of this study was to explore a knowledge base on the above variables that can be used to contribute to the development of ways to reduce spousal abuse in Canada. Thus, the dependent variable in this research refers to spouse abuse. The independent variables include education, income, sex and age. Moreover, the study uses the data from Canada General Social Survey (2009).

Literature Review

The previous studies examining social structure and spousal violence confirms a strong relationship between severity of violence and socioeconomic status. Different education levels and income levels are important factors of socioeconomic status (Fisher & McFerron, 1990). According to Hotaling & Sugarman (1990), they found that people with lower income level report more violence between partners. Also, Gelles (1991) found that there is a negative relationship between education levels and conjugal violence. He also pointed out that education and income have interaction effect on spousal violence. In particular, people have higher education and income levels experience the least spousal violence between partners (Doherty, 1997). However, traditional perspectives on spousal violence usually focus on partners’ education and...