This study proposes to examine the impact of alcohol cues and alcohol administration on the marital interactions of physically aggressive married couples, distressed but not aggressive couples, and nondistressed couples. Subjects for this project will be 220 couples who participated in the epidemiologic study of frequent heavy drinking and marital violence among newlyweds. As part of the epidemiologic study, married couples will be assessed at the end of their first year of marriage with regard to the presence/absence of marital violence and characteristics of the marital violence episodes and overall marital satisfaction. Couples who indicate some degree of physical aggression on the part of the husband and indicate that at lest one episode involved alcohol consumption by the husband will comprise the marital aggression group. Two control groups will also be utilized, a high-risk group compromised of maritally distressed but not aggressive couples and a low-risk control group consisting of nondistressed couples. The participants will be randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, no alcohol, active placebo, and alcohol. In the no alcohol condition, couples will discuss two major marital issues with no alcohol present. In the active placebo condition, couples will discuss the first problem with no alcohol and will discuss the second after the administration of a very small dose of alcohol to the husband. In the alcohol condition, the couples will discuss the problem first with no alcohol and, subsequently, following the administration of a moderately high dose of alcohol to the husband. These sessions will be videotaped and coded according to the Marital Interaction Coding System by coders blind to group status and specific condition. Multivariate analysis of variance and loglinear analyses will be used to determine whether the marital interactions of aggressive, distressed, and nondistressed couples are differentially influenced by the active placebo or by the alcohol administration.
| Leonard, K E; Roberts, L J (1998) The effects of alcohol on the marital interactions of aggressive and nonaggressive husbands and their wives. J Abnorm Psychol 107:602-15 |
