Dr Laurence Wainwright (Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment)              HRSC0064

Supplementary written evidence from Dr Laurence Wainwright

Link between heat and domestic violence

There appears to be a causal link between hot weather – including both higher average temperatures, and heatwaves – and increased rates of domestic violence. As to the exact strength of the relationship and the specific variables at play, there are still many unknowns. But from the evidence we currently have, it seems to be a specific manifestation of the well-established link connecting heat with aggression, combined with a range of complex and nuanced interactions between biological, psychological and socio-behavioural factors.

There are several recent studies that showcase this relationship. In a large study of citizens in Nepal, India and Pakistan, Zhu et al. (2023) found that an increase of 1c in annual average temperature was associated with a 6% increase in physical and sexual domestic violence. A 2018 study in Spain found that an ambient temperature of 34 °C served as a threshold trigger for an increase in intimate partner violence (Sanz-Barbero et al., 2018).

Zhu, Y., He, C., Bell, M., Zhang, Y., Fatmi, Z., Zhang, Y., ... & Kan, H. (2023). Association of ambient temperature with the prevalence of intimate partner violence among partnered women in low-and middle-income south Asian countries. JAMA psychiatry, 80(9), 952-961.

Sanz-Barbero, B., Linares, C., Vives-Cases, C., González, J. L., López-Ossorio, J. J., & Díaz, J. (2018). Heat wave and the risk of intimate partner violence. Science of the total environment, 644, 413-419.

October 2023