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There is a widespread agreement among gender and family violence investigators that gender and socioeconomic inequalities play key roles in domestic violence against women (DVAW). By integrating the concepts of gender traditionalism and decision-making power into a variety of resource-based theories, this study develops a gender perspective to explore the linkages between gendered correlates and psychological and physical DVAW in urban Thailand. Based on a random sample of 770 married women in Bangkok, results from our Tobit regression models indicate that when Thai wives accept gender traditionalism, have significantly greater or smaller economic resources than their husbands, or have significantly greater or smaller decision-making power, they are at greater risk for multiple forms of domestic violence. However, contrary to expectations, Thai wives who report higher levels of social contact or integration do not experience less domestic violence. It is concluded that gender egalitarianism in urban Thailand can greatly reduce the risk of DVAW.

A growing body of research has documented salutary associations between religious involvement and poor mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and psychological distress. However, little scholarly attention has been given to the association between Buddhism, a non-Western religious faith, and depressive symptomatology in Thailand. Using random survey data collected from urban Thailand, this study examines the association between religious involvement and depressive symptoms among married women in Bangkok. Findings from multiple linear regression models reveal that (1) Buddhist respondents report significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than their non-Buddhist counterparts, (2) the frequency of participation in religious activities is significantly and inversely associated with the level of depressive symptoms, and (3) the inverse association between religious participation and depressive symptoms is more salient for Buddhists who frequently practice their faith (i.e., significant interaction effect). Research limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Objective: This study examines linkages between childhood exposure to family violence (FV) and adulthood depressive symptoms, directly and indirectly, through adulthood experience of FV among ever-married Thai women. Background: A growing body of research has shown that childhood experience of FV is not only intergenerationally transmitted but also significantly associated with negative mental health outcomes in adulthood. However, prior research is limited to Western contexts, with little known about how intergenerational pathways of FV operate outside of the West.Method: Data come from a probability sample of ever-married women living in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2000 (N = 811). The dependent variable is self-reported depressive symptoms measured by the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the key independent variables are direct and indirect exposures to FV in childhood. The path models are estimated to incorporate the mediating variables of adulthood experience of FV via the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales. Results: Our path analyses reveal that the intergenerational transfer of FV occurs, regardless of the form of violence experienced by ever-married Thai women during childhood or adulthood. Moreover, although experiencing FV during childhood tends to exert direct effects on depressive symptoms in adulthood, witnessing FV during childhood affects depressive symptoms in adulthood only indirectly. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings demonstrate that childhood exposure to FV elicits long-term detrimental effects on women's adulthood experience of FV and mental health in urban Thailand.