Domestic violence is a significant problem in the U.S. One out of six U.S. couples experience an incident involving a physical assault each year. Both excessive alcohol use and alcoholism are associated with greater risk for domestic violence. Fifty to 60% or more of male alcoholics have been violent toward a female partner in the year before alcoholism treatment. Despite the range of evidence consistently linking alcohol problems and domestic violence, surprisingly little research has been done on domestic violence in clinical samples of alcoholics. Our recent initial study showed that domestic violence decreased after a specialized form of couples alcoholism treatment and, among remitted alcoholics, returned to the levels experienced by nonalcoholic couples. Further, initial studies have implicated antisociality, alcohol problem severity, variations in alcohol consumption patterns, and relationship distress as correlates of domestic violence among alcoholics. Despite these initial findings, virtually nothing is known about changes in domestic violence after more typical traditional individual treatment for alcoholism. In addition, models designed to explain the occurrence of domestic violence, and variations before and after treatment, among alcoholics have received very little attention. This study will examine a sample of 260-320 married or cohabiting male alcoholics as they enter traditional individual treatment for alcoholism, along with a demographically similar comparison group of 260-320 married or cohabiting nonalcoholic males from the community. We will follow these subjects for two years in a multi-wave longitudinal design. Similar data will be collected from the female partners in the alcoholic and comparison samples to enhance the validity of measurement and the generality of findings. The PRIMARY OBJECTIVES are to provide crucial descriptive information about the natural history of factors domestic violence among males in treatment for alcoholism, to replicate and extend prior research on associated with domestic violence among alcoholics, and to test explanatory models of posttreatment domestic violence among alcoholics. A SECONDARY OBJECTIVE is to explore situational links between alcohol consumption and domestic violence by examination of specific violent incidents. Achieving these objectives will provide clinically important information about whether treatment for alcoholism is associated with meaningful reductions in the risk of domestic violence. Theoretically, this longitudinal study of a treatment seeking sample provides a window to examine hypothesized associations between changes in alcohol consumption and changes in domestic violence.
