State Policy Variations in Childcare Subsidies and Physical Intimate Partner Violence

Background and Purpose: The prevalence of physical intimate partner violence (IPV) is alarmingly high across the U.S., with 35.2% of women and 24.6% of men experiencing severe physical IPV at some point in their lives. IPV survivors often grapple with economic challenges such as material hardship and housing insecurity. Survivors who are parents experience the additional burden of childcare needs while navigating violent relationships.

The high costs of childcare can hinder low-income parents from working. To address this, childcare subsidies have been established to alleviate the burden of childcare cost among low-income families. While there are federal eligibility guidelines, each state determines specific standards; thus, some state having more generous and others more strict criteria. However, few studies have explored the impacts of variations in welfare policies on IPV of parents. To that end, this study examines the link between state policy variations in childcare subsidies—specifically enrollment income threshold and copayment—and physical IPV rates. We hypothesized that higher enrollment income eligibility guidelines and lower copayments would be associated with lower physical IPV rates.

Methods: Physical IPV data was accessed from the National Incident-Based Reporting System from 2011 to 2019, focusing on the 28 states whose population were covered by the NIBRS data at a rate of 66% or greater. We organized the data by quarter and focused on the rate of physical IPV incidents reported to police per 100,000 of the covered population. State-level childcare subsidy policies were compiled from the Urban Institute policy database. We examined the enrollment income threshold and the maximum copayment. Control variables were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS), Kentucky Center for Poverty Research National Welfare, and Child Welfare Information Gateway including population by race, urbanicity, poverty rate, unemployment rate, and social safety net. For analysis, we conducted a generalized linear model with state fixed effects, quarter fixed effects, and state*year fixed effects. To account for clustering within the data, we used the cluster option in Stata version 18 and robust standard errors.

Results: Higher enrollment income eligibility was associated with lower rates of physical IPV. Copayment amount was not associated with physical IPV rates. Regarding control variables, the racial composition, population proportion that resides in an urban area, the unemployment rate, the poverty rate, and the state social welfare safety net were associated with physical IPV rates.

Conclusions and Implications: Affordable and reliable childcare is needed for parents of young children so that they may maintain regular work hours, build social relationships outside of abusive households, and grow savings for eventually leaving abusive relationships. Findings indicate that states with more accessible and affordable childcare for IPV survivors via liberal income requirements for childcare subsidies see lower police-reported rates of physical IPV.