Reconsidering the Relationship Between Educational Hypogamy and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from India

Past research suggests that the expansion of women's education reduces their exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) due to attitudinal changes and women's greater access to resources. The IPV literature also suggests that educational hypogamy (women marrying men with less education) increases IPV as women face backlash associated with gender-status inconsistencies. However, existing research has not effectively tested the link between educational hypogamy and IPV. In this study, I provide a direct and explicit test of this backlash hypothesis using nationally representative National Family Health Survey data from India, a country characterized by high levels of IPV and gender inequality but rising levels of educational hypogamy. Using an interactive specification between wife's and husband's education, I do not find evidence for a positive association between educational hypogamy and IPV. Women's education is associated with reduced IPV, even in some instances when it exceeds the husband's education. Further analyses suggest that educational hypogamy by itself does not raise IPV risk in India because increased education does not necessarily grant Indian women greater access to other resources such as employment and income. Rather, education likely shapes IPV by precipitating attitudinal changes that lead to IPV rejection. This study contributes to theories of the family, gender, and violence and presents findings that contradict much of the literature on educational hypogamy and IPV in the Global South.