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Alcohol's role in domestic violence: a contributing cause or an excuse?
Author(s) -
Leonard K. E.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0447.106.s412.3.x
Subject(s) - excuse , blame , domestic violence , psychology , deviance (statistics) , alcohol intoxication , social psychology , poison control , alcohol , injury prevention , suicide prevention , criminology , human factors and ergonomics , psychiatry , clinical psychology , medical emergency , medicine , political science , law , biochemistry , statistics , chemistry , mathematics
Objective: This paper reviews evidence regarding the deviance disavowal approach to alcohol‐related violence. It focuses on whether alcohol intoxication is used to excuse domestic violence, and whether this can explain alcohol/violence association. Method: Four hypotheses derived from the deviance disavowal approach were identified, including (i) people accept alcohol as a cause of violence; (ii) people attribute less blame and punishment to intoxicated aggressors than to sober aggressors; (iii) the belief that alcohol causes or excuses violence should be associated with and predict the occurrence of alcohol‐related domestic violence; and (iv) the administration of a placebo should increase aggressive behaviour. Results: The review suggested that some people do accept alcohol as a cause of violence, but that alcohol does not appear to mitigate blame, and this belief is not longitudinally predictive of violence. Conclusion: The evidence for a deviance disavowal model of alcohol and domestic violence appears quite weak.