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Cited by 285Intimate Partner and Family ViolenceSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesSexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Alcohol and intimate partner violence: when can we say that heavy drinking is a contributing cause of violence?

LEONARD, KENNETH E.·2005·Addiction
DOI 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00994.x
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Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognized as a prevalent and serious problem for more than 20 years. At a fundamental level violence against women, as well as many other forms of violence, occurs because physical aggression is accepted or tolerated, at least under some circumstances. However, many other factors contribute to the occurrence of violence, and 'the field appears to be developing toward an integrative, metatheoretical model of violence that considers multiple variables operating at different times in a probabilistic fashion' (Crowell & Burgess 1996, p. 69). Of the multiple variables that have been proposed, excessive alcohol consumption is one of the most controversial. While there is broad agreement that partner-violent men are often heavy drinkers and heavy drinking often accompanies the violence, there is substantial disagreement regarding whether alcohol consumption plays any causal role in IPV. Some argue that there is no credible evidence that excessive drinking, either acutely or chronically, is a cause of marital aggression, that alcohol simply serves as an 'excuse' for the aggression, and that the aggression does not stop with successful treatment of the problem drinking (Zubretsky & Digirolamo 1996). There is, however, a different perspective, one that argues that acute alcohol consumption is a contributing cause of marital aggression, and that successful resolution of heavy drinking will often lead to a reduction, and in some cases a cessation, of IPV. The evidence regarding alcohol and marital violence has been reviewed extensively. Briefly, case–control studies of violent men, alcoholic men, and abused women, and epidemiological studies of the general population and of women in health-care settings have consistently found an association between indices of heavy drinking and the occurrence of domestic violence. In a meta-analytical summary of this literature, Lipsey et al. (1997) reported an effect size of 0.22 and interpreted this as indicating that the upper half of drinkers had twice the risk of violence as the lower half. Many of these studies did not control for other factors that might be associated with both drinking and marital violence, but a growing number of studies have controlled for such variables in the context of multivariate analyses and continued to find that drinking behavior is associated with domestic violence, independent of other factors, such as age, socioeconomic or occupational status, and race/ethnicity (e.g. Leonard et al. 1985; Pan, Neidig & O'Leary 1994). At a more substantive level, the relationship has been observed after controlling for hostility and antisocial behavior (e.g. Leonard & Senchak 1993; Reider et al. 1988), normative views of aggression (Kaufman Kantor & Straus 1990) and drug problems (Pan et al. 1994). In addition, most of these studies also controlled for marital satisfaction, relationships discord or similar variables and continued to find a significant relationship between alcohol and marital violence (e.g. Leonard & Senchak 1993; McKenry, Julian, & Gavazzi 1995; see Leonard 2001 for a review). Moreover, there have been several longitudinal studies that have reported that drinking patterns are longitudinally predictive of subsequent domestic violence (Leonard & Senchak 1996; Leonard & Quigley 1999). These studies, in fact, controlled for previous domestic violence. Clearly, there is the need for further examination of third variables. However, at present the research suggests that third variables do not account for the entire association between heavy drinking patterns and domestic violence, although they do account for some of the association. Recently, there have a number of reports that suggest treatment for alcohol dependence is associated with reductions in intimate partner violence (O'Farrell & Choquette 1991; O'Farrell et al. 2003; Stuart et al. 2003), that this reduction is also apparent for verbal aggression (O'Farrell et al. 2000) and that this reduction is observable up to 2 years post-treatment (O'Farrell et al. 1999). In addition, this research has demonstrated that alcoholics who relapsed did not reduce their violence, whereas alcoholics in remission did reduce their violence (O'Farrell & Murphy 1995). In addition, O'Farrell et al. (2004) found that couple's involvement with behavioral couples treatment (BCT) was predictive of lower post-treatment partner violence in alcoholic men, and mediation analyses suggested that relationship functioning and drinking mediated this relationship. Similarly, Fals-Stewart et al. (2002) found that among drug abusing men, many with alcohol problems, behavioral couple's therapy reduced their violence from pre-treatment (43%) to post-treatment (17%). Moreover, men in the behavioral couples therapy engaged in less post-treatment violence than men in the individual treatment, an effect that was mediated by the better treatment outcome of BCT for both marital adjustment and drinking

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Authors
LEONARD, K. E.
Affiliations
University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
Corresponding author
LEONARD, KENNETH E.
ORCID
LEONARD, KENNETH E.
Venue
Addiction
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005-03-22
Volume
100
Issue
4
Pages
422-425
ISSN
  • 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
  • 1360-0443
DOI
10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00994.x
OpenAlex
W2151340928
Cited by
285
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 10
FWCI
8.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Addiction (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
Keywords
intimate partner violence, domestic violence, heavy drinking, alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, violence against women, marital aggression, alcohol intervention programs, alcohol prevention programs, alcohol education programs, alcohol policy
MeSH terms
Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Spouse Abuse

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