Eugenia Frezza

Coping through acceptance: What shapes attitudes towards intimate partner violence

In many instances, tolerance for intimate partner violence (IPV) exists even among its victims, with women justifying their partners' behaviour as a coping mechanism. This article investigates the causal effect of IPV on attitudes towards violence, and the extent to which the length of exposure to abuse impacts that. Exploiting differences in legal drinking age across states, it finds that a lower drinking age increases exposure to violence, which in turn leads to an increase in wives' tolerance towards it.