REG-3

Rules about housework and domestic labor

Definition

Assignment, inspection, or punishment related to cleaning, cooking, childcare, or other domestic tasks that go beyond ordinary household negotiation.

How it operates

Detailed instructions about how and/or when tasks must be performed, inspections, and punishment for perceived shortfalls.

Function

Enforce a hierarchy of domestic labor and keep the target occupied under continuous assessment.

Harm

The exhaustion of time and energy that might otherwise support autonomy or exit.

Why this is coercive control

Ordinary requests for shared household contribution without surveillance or penalty. The conduct here enforces a hierarchy of domestic labor and keep the target occupied under continuous assessment.

Constructed example

“The house gets cleaned on Fridays before I get home.”

Fictitious. Written to illustrate the behavior. Not a case.

Crossman & Hardesty 2018; Pence & Paymar 1993; Stark 2007.

Also in REG

Literature this family is drawn from

Stark, E. (2007). Coercive control: How men entrap women in personal life. Oxford University Press.
Stark, E., & Hester, M. (2019). Coercive control: Update and review. Violence Against Women, 25(1), 81-104.
Pence, E., & Paymar, M. (1993). Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model. Springer.
Fontes, L. A. (2015). Invisible chains: Overcoming coercive control in your intimate relationship. Guilford Press.
Dutton, M. A., & Goodman, L. A. (2005). Coercion in intimate partner violence: Toward a new conceptualization. Sex Roles, 52(11-12), 743-756.
Crossman, K. A., Hardesty, J. L., & Raffaelli, M. (2016). “He could scare me without laying a hand on me”: Mothers’ experiences of nonviolent coercive control during marriage and after separation. Violence Against Women, 22(4), 454-473.
Serious Crime Act 2015, s. 76 (England and Wales) (controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship).
Cal. Fam. Code § 6320(c), as amended by 2020 Cal. Stat. ch. 248 (SB 1141).

Literature map

Forums that enumerate this family

A statute that names a tactic is not a finding that the tactic is present.

Identifying a behavior described here does not establish a pattern of behavior and does not establish coercive control. A tactic is not a regime. The instrument consolidates peer-reviewed literature so a reader can check when in doubt. The instrument is not a coding manual. Carlton Research does not provide the instrument as a weapon.

How to cite

Carlton, C. (2026). Is it coercive control?: REG-3. Carlton Research Instruments. /codebook/reg-3. Last reviewed August 31, 2026.