Partner violence linked to specific drinking environments

Researchers from the Prevention Research Center in California and Arizona State University, USA, surveyed more than 1500 California couples, gathering information about their drinking in six specific contexts: restaurants, bars, parties at someone else's house, quiet evenings at home, with friends in one's own home, and in parks and other public places. They found that men drinking in bars and at parties away from home and women drinking in parks and public places were both associated with increased male-to-female violence. They also found a link between men drinking during quiet evenings at home and increased female-to-male violence.

From a research perspective, these findings suggest that we need to consider what occurs within different drinking contexts (besides alcohol consumption) that might trigger partner aggression. From a prevention perspective, the results are quite hopeful: it may be possible to reduce violence against spouses and partners by encouraging people in risky relationships to avoid drinking in certain contexts. Such advice could well be more effective in the short-term than encouraging people to drink less.