Occurrence Of Male To Female Intimate Partner Violence

The Occurrence of Male-to-Female Intimate Partner Violence on Days of Men's Drinking: The Moderating Effects of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Alcoholism is perhaps the most common form of drug abuse in America today. In 1995, 67% of the population over the age of 12 reported drinking alcohol with in the previous year; nearly 50% reported drinking some type of alcoholic beverage with in the past month. Scientists believe that the reason alcohol is so popular is because it is pleasant, relaxing, and is considered a social beverage. But what the drinkers often do not take in to consideration are the facts that alcohol dulls the brain and confuses physical reactions, which leads to numerous injuries, accidents, and death. Roughly 1.3 million people are arrested for driving drunk each year. As a result of the drunk drivers, 25,000 deaths occur each year. Alcohol affects every part of an alcoholic's life: their body, their mind and their family life.

In a study conducted by Fals-Stewart, Leonard, and Birchler, the moderating effects of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on the day-to-day relationship between male partner alcohol consumption and male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) for men entering a domestic violence treatment program or an alcoholism treatment program are examined. Alcohol consumption was associated with an increased likelihood of non-severe IPV among men without a diagnosis of ASPD but not among men with ASPD. Drinking was more strongly associated with a likelihood of severe IPV among men with ASPD compared with those without ASPD who also drank. These results provide partial support for a multiple threshold model of intoxication and aggression (Fals-Stewart, 2003; Birchler, 2003; Leonard, 2003).

The clinicians wanted to find out how alcohol played a role in relationships and violence. IPV has been recognized for more than 20 years as a serious public concern with more than 250,000 hospital emergencies involving a victim of IPV. Cross-sectional studies have reveled that men in treatment for alcoholism are four to six times higher to commit IPV than those that are not in treatment. Research supports that in instances when the husband was drinking and the husband was sober, alcohol-related episodes were more aggressive than non-alcohol-related episodes. During this study, the participants were intimate male and female partners in which the male partners reported one or more acts of male-to-female physical aggression in their relationships during the previous year. One sample consisted of men entering a 12-week domestic violence outpatient treatment program and their female partners. A separate sample was recruited from partner violent male patients entering a 12-week outpatient alcoholism treatment program and their female partners. Partner violence is relatively common among clinical alcoholism populations; across several studies, 50% to 60% of couples in which one of the partners is entering treatment for alcoholism report at least one act of physical aggression between partners during the year before treatment entry (Fals-Stewart, 2003; Birchler, 2003; Leonard, 2003).

The patients were giving 15-month supply of daily logbooks and were told how to complete them. Each logbook contained a 5-month supply of diary sheets to record daily episodes of men's drinking and partner-directed physical aggression. The daily drinking log included space for four different drinking episodes per day. For each day of alcohol consumption by the male partner, both partners were asked to record each time a drinking episode began and ended and amount consumed. For female partners' logs of their male partners' drinking behaviors, along with recording the specific information about each drinking episode if known, respondents could also use the following codes: (a) drinking behavior unknown and (b) drinking occurred, time unknown. Drinking was defined as heavy for a given day if the individual consumed more than five standard drinks; five or fewer standard drinks were categorized as non-heavy drinking (Fals-Stewart, 2003; Birchler, 2003; Leonard, 2003). The male partners' alcohol problems were evaluated with the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, and were interviewed using the psychoactive substance use modules of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. More data collected from the females were used in the analysis because men report fewer episodes of physical aggression than their counterparts.

The information gained from this study can be applied to the field of clinical psychology by allowing those to see that when heavy drinking is done, under the right conditions IPV can happen and most likely will if tension exists between a couple. Reducing or eliminating heavy drinking will a dramatic impact the successful alcoholism treatment on reducing domestic violence among alcoholics (Fals-Stewart, 2003; Birchler, 2003; Leonard, 2003). By the individuals getting help and counseling, they can better battle the addictions of alcoholism, reducing violence as well as decreasing the effect of alcohol on violence. Individuals displaying infrequent or non-severe violence, anger management or martial counseling may be useful way to approach the problem.

I agree with the research done here. This was a very in depth look at how alcoholism can play multiple roles of good and bad in relationships. The body produces adrenaline which is