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Alcohol and the Continuation of Early Marital Aggression
Author(s) -
Quigley Brian M.,
Leonard Kenneth E.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2000.tb04643.x
Subject(s) - wife , domestic violence , aggression , psychology , suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , political science , law
Background: Husband alcohol use has frequently been found to be related to husband‐to‐wife marital violence. Research has demonstrated a prospective link between husband alcohol use before marriage and husband‐to‐wife aggression in the first year of marriage. The present study examined the relationships of husband violence, marital conflict, and couple's alcohol use in the first year of marriage to husband‐to‐wife marital violence in the second and third years of marriage. Methods: Newlywed couples were recruited at the time of marriage and were interviewed regarding alcohol use and experience with violence before marriage, 1 year after marriage, and 3 years after marriage. Results: Year l violence was predictive of subsequent marital violence. Husband and wife drinking patterns in the first year of marriage interacted to predict violence in later years. The most violence in subsequent years occurred in couples where the husband was a heavy drinker and the wife was not. Husbands who were violent in year 1 were more likely to be violent in later years. When no violence occurred in the first year, frequent use of verbal aggression in year 1 was predictive of violence in subsequent years. Conclusions: The predictive value of husband drinking patterns for subsequent violence extends beyond the transition to marriage. The fact that husband and wife alcohol use interacted to predict future aggression suggests that the relationship between husband alcohol use and marital violence is not spurious nor the result of conflict and violence promoting alcohol use. The findings may reflect multiple instances of acute intoxication and/or alcohol‐related stress and conflict within the relationship, both of which may increase the likelihood of aggression.