The Emotional Environment of Families Experiencing Chronic Poverty in India

The emotional environment of families living in chronic poverty in India was explored. We hypothesized that the poor (when compared to the nonpoor) would report more aversive interaction and would report less family and life satisfaction. Results showed partial support for our hypotheses. Poor husbands expressed love to wives in fewer ways than the nonpoor men, and they were more likely to use physical or verbal abuse with wives and children. Poor wives showed anger more frequently to husbands and children than the nonpoor wives. However, there were no differences between the poor and the nonpoor on family and life satisfaction. Thus, income alone was not a sufficient predictor of the family's emotional environment.