A new study that interviewed more than 1,500 married or cohabitating opposite-sex couples in California conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health found that:
- Men who regularly drank at parties away from their home were more likely to be violent toward their partners.
- Women were more violent when their husbands and boyfriends frequently drank at home.
Christina Mair, lead researcher, said that what might explain these patterns still is not clear… ‘perhaps men who drink frequently at parties are surrounded by others who share more permissive norms about intimate partner violence and they get riled up while and then go home and assault their partner.’
About 6% of couples reported male-to-female partner violence and close to 10% reported female-to-male violence.
In general, men who drank often were more likely to be violent toward their partners and to be victims of violence and women who drank large amounts of alcohol in public places were also more likely to be violent.
Much research over the past few decades has established that alcohol use is a contributing cause of intimate partner violence.
The study can be used to encourage people who want to drink alcohol to seek out low-risk contexts rather than high-risk contexts.
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