Domestic Violence During COVID-19

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Early evidence suggests that domestic violence has risen since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, we know little about domestic violence victims’ qualitative experiences of abuse or access to necessary resources. This project considers how public health crises and stay-at-home orders affect the dynamics of abuse. It also examines how victims’ help-seeking and survival strategies changed during the pandemic. Through in-depth interviews with domestic violence survivors and anti-violence workers, this research traces changes in victims’ experiences of abuse and help-seeking, as well as changes in the structure of care surrounding domestic violence. Findings are relevant for scholars and decisionmakers interested in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship between external stressors and family violence, and the effects of the pandemic on access to resources. This project interviews 120 domestic violence survivors and 60 service providers to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped the dynamics of intimate partner violence, the experiences of women survivors, and the availability of, access to, and navigation of resources for domestic violence victims. Data are qualitatively coded and analyzed for emergent themes related to the dynamics of intimate violence, survival strategies, resource access, and inequalities. The research contributes to sociological understandings of how crises shape inequality. This project also allows people with pandemic-related vulnerabilities to explain in their own words how their lives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.