Queen bees and domestic violence ; [1]

A longstanding tradition of patrilocal marriage – living in the husband's natal household - affects every generation of Central Asian women and their choices regarding childbearing, employment and education. While anthropological evidence suggests that elder household members, especially the mother-in-law, play a key and often detrimental role in the lives of junior women in their households, empirical studies are scarce. We use Tajikistan 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data to explore the correlation between domestic violence and daughters-in-law's living arrangements. Controlling on observables, propensity score matching (PSM) technique yields a positive and statistically significant treatment effect. Women who live with the in-law family are at least 72% more likely to experience emotional abuse committed by their husbands. A similar treatment effect does not emerge between physical violence and the presence of parents-in-law in the household