Domestic violence and alcohol problems are closely linked. Men who drink heavily are more likely to perpetrate wife abuse and women who abuse alcohol are more likely to be victims of violence. Fifty to 60% of male alcoholics have been violent toward a female partner in the year before alcoholism treatment, and two-thirds or more of women alcoholic patients have been the victims of violence from a male partner. We have been studying the natural history of domestic violence before and after alcoholism treatment under the hypothesis that violence is reduced after treatment and nearly eliminated with abstinence. Two recent studies with male alcoholics and an initial pilot study with female alcoholics showed that male-to-female domestic violence decreased substantially after behavioral couples therapy. Despite these initial findings, virtually nothing is known about changes in domestic violence after more typical individual treatment for alcoholism. In addition, models designed to explain the occurrence of domestic violence and variations in violence before and after treatment have received very little attention. Our ongoing NIAAA grant examines violence among male alcoholics in individual treatment, and we propose to extend this work to female alcoholic patients. This study will examine a sample of 320 married or cohabiting female alcoholics as they enter traditional individual treatment for alcoholism, along with a demographically similar comparison group of 320 couples without current alcohol problems from the community. We will follow both samples for 18 months in a multi-wave longitudinal design. PROJECT OBJECTIVES are to describe the natural history and to explore explanations of male-to- female violence among female alcoholics and their male partners by addressing 2 aims: (1) to find out if violence is reduced relative to a comparison sample as a function of treatment and associated reductions in drinking; and (2) to explore explanatory models that consider alcohol use and other risk factors for violence. This project will provide clinically important and policy-relevant information about whether treatment for female alcoholics is associated with meaningful reductions in the risk of their violent victimization.
