Gender and the Nexus Between Preferences and Patriarchal Practices: Justifications of Intimate Partner Violence in the Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic (DR), high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) coexist with low rates of support for IPV. This raises questions about the actual underlying preferences for justifying IPV in the DR. We expect marriage to be influential in this relationship insofar as it reinforces gendered norms that may rationalize IPV apart from legal proscriptions against it. Our analysis of survey data finds that wives are less likely to justify IPV, but recently married husbands are more likely to justify it. Marriage seems more of a conduit for justifications of IPV whose roots lie in institutions throughout DR society.