Couples life style and domestic violence in India: a micro-level investigation based on the National Family Health Survey II of 1999

Kulasekaran Ravishankar, Annamalai University
Ram Ramachandarn, Annamalai University
Anjaneyulu Subbiah, Annamalai University

Domestic violence, particularly wife beating or physical mistreatment is a very common phenomenon in many Indian homes. Studies have highlighted the reasons for wife beating, varying from not cooking food properly to often arguing with the husband. This paper tries to examine the relationship between the couple’s life style indicators and the domestic violence against women in India. The data were drawn from the NFHS II – India”. Basic information on couple’s life style indicators reveals that majority of the Indian husband and wife do not drink or smoke or chew tobacco. Background conditions of women are found to play a significant role in the incidence of domestic violence against women. Logistic regression analysis revealed that all the three life style indicators do reveal a significant impact on the domestic violence in India.