Impact of Domestic Violence on Children’s Education in Colombia: Methodological Challenges

Abstract

This paper explores the methodological challenges of estimating the effects of intimate-partner violence (IPV) against the mother on the educational outcomes of her children. We tackle the problem of potential endogeneity and non-random selection of children into situations where they are exposed to IPV using non-parametric matching methods and parametric instrumental variable methods. Using Colombia’s 2005 DHS (N= 21,827) we find that IV and non-IV estimators produce qualitatively similar results, but at varying degrees of precision, for some of the educational outcomes but not for others. This suggests that the exogeneity of IPV to various education outcomes cannot be taken for granted and that appropriate methods need to be used to study its causal effects.

School and Child Protection Services Professionals’ Views on the school’s Mission and Responsibilities for Children Living with Domestic Violence – Tensions and Gaps

“…Research shows that children's education and their psychosocial health are intertwined (Olofsson et al 2011). Children with poor psychosocial health show lower reading levels (Assad et al 2016), lower reading and math scores (Kiesel et al 2016), and higher levels of school dropout (Durand et al 2011). In addition, a study by Holmes et al (2015) shows a connection between living with domestic violence and aggressive behavior in (pre)school environments.…”

“Recognition and identification of children in preschool and school who are exposed to domestic violence”

“…There are several reasons why it is essential to study EDV in the Swedish preschool and school context. Children affected by EDV are victims, and suffer from its consequences; in addition, EDV affects children's educational outcome (Assad et al 2016). Preschools and schools are very important institutions where children affected by EDV can be identified and supported.…”

Domestic violence, decision-making power, and female employment in Colombia

“…Further, some studies suggest that childhood exposure to domestic violence becomes a risk factor for being a victim and/or perpetrator of violence later in life, both in developed (Whitfield et al 2003) and developing countries (Martin et al 2002). Previous studies for Colombia (Assaad et al 2017;Friedemann-Sánchez and Lovatón 2012) show that a partner's experience of violence against him as a child is highly associated with the incidence of domestic violence in adulthood.…”