Research Paper
The International Journal of Indian Psychology
ISSN 2348-5396 (Online) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (Print)
Volume 8, Issue 3, July- Sep, 2020
DIP: 18.01.013/20200803, DOI: 10.25215/0803.013
http://www.ijip.in
© 2020, F Bakul; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Economic abuse and relationship satisfaction within pre-marital
couples
Fariea Bakul
1
*
ABSTRACT
Intimate relationships between partners opens the way not only to share happiness, joy but
also to be aggressive, hostile, show anger, be abusive to partner. One of this abuse which is
non-physical in form namely Economic abuse has been the core target of this present
research. Economic abuse is a type of non-physical abuse that can affect the victim’s own
gaining of financial resources to achieve economic self-sufficiency for living a healthy life.
Economic abuse is a unique kind of abuse. Objectives of the present study included to
explore whether there is any gender difference in economic abuse within young adults and
whether any personal attributes influence the occurrence of economic abuse. Another
objective of the study was to assess the satisfaction in their relationship and a subsequent
objective was to examine whether these two facets are correlated. Based on previous research
findings one of the hypotheses was that females would be more prone to economic abuse then
their male counterpart. Another hypothesis was that any demographic/personal attributes can
strengthened the occurrence of economic abuse. A final hypothesis was that abuse in any
relationship would lessen the satisfaction in the same. The results of this study supports the
hypotheses. Female suffers more economic abuse (both economic control and economic
exploitation) of their economic resources by their male partner and women’s income had
positive correlation with them being economically abused. Subsequently occurrence of more
economic abuse leads to less satisfaction in the relationship.
Keywords: Economic abuse, Economic Control, Economic Exploitation, Intimate partner
Relationship, satisfaction in relationship.
Dating, premarital relationships, live in relationships, are quiet common in Western and
European culture for several decades. In a country like Bangladesh where most of the people
are very religious, having a restrictive religious mindset and society; dating prior to marriage
is almost prohibited and usually perceived as Inclemency. With changes in the society,
higher degree holders, more liberal thinking, advancement of technology (mobile internet,
social networking sites) the idea of pre-marital dating is getting its place in young
generation’s thoughts. They are getting involved in pre -marital relationships thus creating a
place for violent and abusive behavior. These intimate partner relationships can result in
any type of violence in a situation of difference in opinion, lifestyle and strategy of doing
1
Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
*Responding Author
Received: June 27, 2020; Revision Received: August 05, 2020; Accepted: September 25, 2020