Severe cold snaps create conditions for increased domestic abuse, Wake Forest researcher says

(WGHP) — It’s the challenge you don’t see coming but maybe you should have.

Wake Forest University Associate Professor Leah Lakdawala did her research in the heights of the Andes Mountains in Peru, but the principles are likely to hold everywhere, and it all starts from a basic premise.

“There are a lot of these adverse events that are out of our control, and they have real effects on our lives,” Lackdawala said about the basis of her latest research.

Lakdawala is an economist, and her latest paper is about how long-lasting, severe cold snaps affect families who are tethered to the land, particularly when it comes to domestic violence.

The basic concept is understandable to most.

“It creates the conditions that are ripe for conflict,” Lakdawala said. “It’s not just the financial stress, but it’s also the fact that cold is something that can keep you indoors.”

Most of us can realize that much, but Lakdawala wanted to put hard numbers to it.

“You can think of this as when the weather gets cold unexpectedly, it can kill the crops in the fields, and it can destroy the buds on fruit trees,” she said. “And on top of that, it can be really bad for livestock, too, and this has a huge consequence for these families who rely on agricultural income.”

And that’s where the anger comes from, and it’s not just that it leads to violence, but it appears to be a particularly virulent variety.

“And then on top of that, the intensity of violence increased as well,” Lakdawala said. “So there were new victims as a result of these cold snaps, but in addition to that, you had women who were already suffering even more.”

See more on this subject in this edition of The Buckley Report.

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