Family Violence is Not Causally Associated with COVID-19 Stay-at-Home
Orders: A Commentary
Abstract
COVID-19 has caused a wave of research findings to be published in
academic and pre-print outlets which have resulted in several
high-profile retractions. Given the need to publish policy- and
practice-relevant research swiftly, the peer review process may issue
fewer checks and balances compared to those present in non-COVID related
scholarly works. This urgency to publish has led to publication of
manuscripts with major methodological challenges falling through the
cracks. In this perspective, we discuss this issue in light of a recent
manuscript by Piquero et al. (2020). In the study, the association
between stay-at-home orders and family violence was not statistically
significant; however, a 12.5% increase in family violence offenses was
widely disseminated by media outlets. The inaccurate dissemination of
research findings can have important implications for policy and the
virus mitigation efforts, which might urge policymakers to terminate
stay-at-home orders in an effort to reduce family violence and other
social risk factors. Changes may ultimately result in more COVID-related
deaths as stay-at-home orders are prematurely and inappropriately lifted
to prevent purported injuries in the home. Therefore, the widespread
propagation of these claims in the absence of scientific evidence of an
increase has great potential to cause harm.