Epidemiological and psychological investigations into the association between socioeconomic inequality and interpersonal violence

Abstract

Previous epidemiological research has demonstrated an association between economic inequality and the incidence of interpersonal violence, generally involving comparisons of homicide rates, on large geographical scales. This thesis aimed to further understand the nature of this association, and the proximate psychological mechanisms that underpin it, using epidemiological and survey research methods. Taking an epidemiological approach, Study 1 demonstrated that the association between inequality and interpersonal violence can be seen at the neighbourhood level in the UK, using two independent datasets recording incidents of mostly non-lethal violence in a novel setting. Using survey methods, Study 2 (n=193) began to explore the proximate psychological mechanisms that may link experiences of inequality with a proclivity for violence. Using various measures of individual perceptions of inequality at national and local levels it was found that perceived inequality did not predict self-reported levels of interpersonal aggression or consideration of future consequences (CFC). Consequently, in Study 3 (n=318), to capture participants’ subjective experiences of inequality, feelings of personal relative deprivation (PRD) were measured in addition to Study 2’s measures of perceived societal inequality, along with further psychological risk-factors for violence (impulsivity and risk-taking). Unlike for the Study 2 measures of perceived inequality, PRD was associated with all the measured psychological risk-factors for violence. Finally, Study 4 (n=195), which was pre-registered, aimed to replicate Study 3’s main findings, and also consider the role of an important cultural factor thought to be involved in violence involving men in particular, endorsement of Masculine Honour Ideology (MHI), a trait associated with ‘Cultures of Honour’ such as in Southern US States. In this study, PRD was again associated with measured psychological risk-factors for violence, as well as MHI. Taken together the findings reported here help advance our understanding of how psychological responses to experiences of relative deprivation may be involved in generating observed associations between inequality and violence. Consequently, as is argued in the concluding chapter, this research may have important implications for how we tackle the problem of violence in society and could help inform interventions and policy initiatives.