I study whether intimate partner violence (IPV) has a causal effect on victims’ tolerance towards it in a context where divorce is very costly. First, I show theoretically that tolerance of violence can serve as a coping mechanism, particularly under prolonged exposure to abuse. I empirically test this hypothesis in the context of India. To do so, I leverage variations in the minimum legal drinking, employing a regression discontinuity and an event study approach. The findings show a 4-5 percentage points increase in wives’ likelihood of experiencing IPV as their husbands attain the legal drinking age. In the short-run, this does not lead to a change in wives’ IPV tolerance. To study the effect of prolonged exposure to IPV on attitudes, I compare couples living in states with different legal drinking ages. I find that earlier legal drinking increases the exposure to violence by up to 6 months, which in turn leads to a 0.3 standard deviation increase in wives’ tolerance towards violence. These findings suggest that the longer the exposure to violence, the more the victims may normalise and justify violence inflicted on them as a coping mechanism.
