Learning to Harm: The Intergenerational Transmission of Gender-Based Violence

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Using administrative data from Sweden, this paper provides the first large-scale estimates on the intergenerational transmission of gender-based violence (GBV) and evidence on how this cycle can be broken. We show that sons of fathers suspected of GBV are more than twice as likely to become suspected perpetrators of GBV, and daughters exposed to violent fathers are almost twice as likely to partner with violent men. They also experience worse partnership outcomes and substantially poorer physical and mental health in adulthood, with hospitalization rates that are over 20 percent higher across inpatient, mental health, and injury-related admissions. These patterns persist after controlling for rich demographic, socioeconomic, and neighborhood characteristics. We then examine whether removing fathers who commit GBV from the household weakens this transmission. To address identification concerns, we combine difference-in-differences designs with a judge instrumental variables approach that exploits quasi-random variation in father removal. Across all designs, we find that removing violent fathers significantly reduces sons' later perpetration of GBV. The protective effects are particularly pronounced when removal occurs before age 11. Together, these results indicate that gender-based violence is a learned behavior developed during childhood and that reducing exposure to abusive fathers can meaningfully weaken its intergenerational persistence.