Violence in the Household and Happiness in Mexico

• Author: Ignacio Llamas,Gilberto Aboites,Humberto Charles‐Leija
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12298
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• Date: 01 June 2019

Violence in the Household and Happiness in Mexico

Humberto Charles-Leija, Gilberto Aboites and Ignacio Llamas*

Abstract

This article has two purposes: first to

investigate whether violence influences

wellbeing; second to investigate whether the

effect of violence is greater for women than for

men. The results show that there is a significant

impact on the wellbeing of individuals when

suffering violence from someone with whom

they live, with women being more severely

affected than men.

1. Introduction

Recently, a series of studies has addressed the

effects of being a victim of crime on different

types of wellbeing. Most have focused on

crime (Cornaglia, Feldman and Leigh 2014;

Davies and Hinks 2010; Dustmann and Fasani

2016; Mahuteah and Zhu 2015). These studies

found that victims of crime report lower levels

of happiness than non-victims (Powdthavee

2005). The objective of this article is to

investigate the impact of domestic violence

on the wellbeing of individuals. The article also

examines some elements that can prevent

violence.

Domestic violence has repercussions for the

economic level of families and countries

(Garc

ıa-Moreno et al. 2005). Those who suffer

domestic violence tend to be less productive at

work. Likewise, the trauma caused to children

can have social consequences. Furthermore,

poor mental health can reduce employment

rates (Fritjers, Johnston and Shields 2014).

Based on the above, the damage to the mental

wellbeing of victims of violence can be argued

to have negative economic outcomes.

Some researchers have studied happiness

using the theory of subjective wellbeing,

evaluating the impact of several variables on

satisfaction with life. There are numerous

studies about family (Cracolici, Giambona

and Cuffaro 2013; Glavin and Peters 2015;

Qian and Qian 2015; Rojas 2007; Velasquez

and Ram

ırez 2012), however, the impact of

domestic violence on happiness has been little

explored, except for a focus on teenagers

(Callahan, Tolman and Saunders 2003). Hence

this article seeks to contribute to the literature

by exploring this under-researched area.

Violence against women is a serious

problem worldwide. In Mexican society

‘machismo’tradition supports the view that a

* Charles-Leija and Aboites: Centro de Investigaciones

Socioecon

omicas (CISE), Universidad Aut

onoma de Coahuila,

Saltillo, M

exico. Llamas: Universidad Aut

onomade M

exico –

Iztapalapa, Iztapalapa, M

exico. Corresponding author:

Charles-Leija, email <humbertocharles@yahoo.com>.

The Australian Economic Review, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 1–12 DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12298

°

C2018 The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research,

Faculty of Business and Economics

Published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

The Australian Economic Review, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 200–211