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Describing Coerced Debt Created in Abusive Marriages.
Adrienne E Adams1, Angela Littwin2, Angie C Kennedy1
1Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|December 30, 2025
Summary
Coerced debt, a form of intimate partner violence, is a significant financial abuse where partners incur debt in victims' names. This study found it
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Criminology
- Economics
Background:
- Coerced debt, a facet of intimate partner violence (IPV), involves abusive partners fraudulently or coercively incurring debt in their victims' names.
- This understudied form of financial abuse has significant economic and personal repercussions for survivors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the types of credit accounts and transactions used to create coerced debt.
- To quantify the financial extent and nature of purchases made using coerced debt.
- To identify the reasons perpetrators provided for coercing partners into opening accounts.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative and qualitative data collected from 187 women recently divorced from abusive husbands.
- Online surveys and telephone interviews were utilized for data collection.
- Descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis were employed for data analysis.
Main Results:
- Coerced debt is prevalent and financially damaging, affecting 116 participants with an average of 4.4 debts each, totaling over $12.5 million.
- Common accounts included credit cards, vehicle loans, mortgages, personal loans, and student loans, with coercive transactions being more frequent than fraudulent ones.
- Debts funded necessities, lifestyle purchases, transportation, perpetrator's interests, and family needs; perpetrators cited 'personal resource adequacy' as the primary reason.
Conclusions:
- Coerced debt presents diverse and costly financial abuse scenarios within intimate partner violence.
- Further research is needed on the impact of coerced debt and effective interventions, including screening tools and legal measures.
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