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The Effect of a First-Born Child’s Gender on Domestic Violence against Women: Evidence from Turkey

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems

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Abstract

Domestic violence is a prevalent and persisting social problem that is still the case in many developed and developing countries alike, including Turkey. Drawing up theoretical and public discussions at the intersection of family issues, masculinity, and violence against women, this book chapter discusses the effect of a first-born child’s gender on domestic violence against women between married couples in Turkey. In other words, by adopting a unique approach to this social problem, this chapter aims to address to what extent having a daughter as the first child can account for a father’s violent behavior against a mother. To this end, a Probit regression model is estimated using the only available national data on domestic violence against women covering 2 years: 2008 and 2014, provided by the Institute of Population Studies, Hacettepe University. Although this study produces mixed empirical results, the findings suggest that fathers who have a daughter as the first-born child are less likely to use economic and physical violence against their spouse. This chapter not only raises awareness in the country about domestic violence against women but also provides gender-sensitive social policy recommendations by opening up a new discussion on the topic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Political Science, Department of Economics, Social Sciences University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

    Aysenur Aydinbakar & Barış Alpaslan

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Sociology, Social Sciences University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

    Sebnem Koser Akcapar

Authors
  1. Aysenur Aydinbakar
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  2. Sebnem Koser Akcapar
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  3. Barış Alpaslan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barış Alpaslan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Rajendra Baikady

  2. Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

    S.M Sajid

  3. Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

    Jaroslaw Przeperski

  4. Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa

    Varoshini Nadesan

  5. Inst of Social Welfare & Res, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Islam Rezaul

  6. Sch of Philosophy & Social Development, Shandong University, Central Campus, Jinan, China

    Jianguo Gao

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Aydinbakar, A., Akcapar, S.K., Alpaslan, B. (2022). The Effect of a First-Born Child’s Gender on Domestic Violence against Women: Evidence from Turkey. In: Baikady, R., Sajid, S., Przeperski, J., Nadesan, V., Rezaul, I., Gao, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_222-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_222-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68127-2

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