Correlates of In-Law Abuse among Male and Female Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants comprise 13.7% of the United States’ population. By 2050, it is projected that 1 in 4 people will identify as immigrants. The past few years with the COVID-19 pandemic have been challenging for everyone, including immigrants. Along with facing difficulties associated with the pandemic, immigrants faced a shadow pandemic of increased domestic violence. In this study, we focus on a unique form of violence in immigrant communities, in-law abuse, which has been minimally considered in the family violence literature. This study represents a significant advance in the field by extending the examination of in-law abuse prevalence rates among male and female immigrants to include communities beyond South Asians, which have been the sole focus of prior research efforts.

The study (N = 419) utilized a bio-psycho-social framework to include biological (gender, age, race), psychological (stress, mental health), and social (generational position, religiosity, household responsibility and COVID family connections) factors as independent variables. The dependent variable was in-law abuse. A hierarchical regression was performed. Data was collected through researcher’s networks and Qualtrics panels.

We observed that females experienced less in-law abuse compared to males, while the prevalence among females was notable. Stress and mental health also predicted in-law abuse among study participants. No social factors were significant.

The study has implications for building new evidence about a unique form of abuse among immigrant communities. Recommendations for service providers and policy advocates regarding diversifying the narrow “western” definition of domestic violence are discussed.