About

Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
University of Bremen
Wiener Straße/Celsiusstraße (FVG)
PO Box 33 04 40
28334 Bremen
Germany

Room: W2170

Phone: +49 (0)421 218 66417
Fax: +49 (0)421 218 66353

E-Mail: mlarsen@bigsss-bremen.de

Mandi Larsen is a Ph.D. Fellow specialising in Research Field B: Welfare State, Inequality and Quality of Life

Dissertation Topic

Health inequities of intimate partner violence victims under differing welfare regimes: A comparison of Germany, the United States, and Norway (Working Title)

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified violence against women as a major source of health inequalities (2002), and has called for research investigating the relationships between violence and economic inequality, weak social safety nets, and poverty (2005). Therefore, I propose to research the role of the welfare state in generating the health inequalities experienced by survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) through an application of Diderichsen, Evans, and Whitehead’s (2001) theoretical framework for examining the pathways from social context to health outcomes. To accomplish this, I will use a diverse case study design comparing the United States, Germany, and Norway. Nationally representative data sets on the prevalence of violence against women in each country will be used to conduct secondary quantitative data analysis investigating whether social position influences health outcomes for IPV survivors through variations in IPV exposure. Additionally, I will also examine whether these relationships vary across the welfare regimes of my three cases. Finally, I intend to explore plausible welfare state policy explanations for the results found in the quantitative analysis. The overall aim of my research is the identification of policy intervention points within various welfare regimes for the purposes of combating health inequities.

Academic Supervisors

  • Prof. Dr. Heinz Rothgang, BIGSSS, Health Economics, Health Policy and Outcome Research, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen
  • Prof. Dr. Karin Gottschall, BIGSSS, Gender Policy in the Welfare State, Zentrum für Sozialpolitik, Universität Bremen

Research interests

  • Gender and social policy
  • Social and health inequities
  • Health systems
  • Violence against women