Spousal violence among alcoholic women as compared to a random household sample of women.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between spousal violence and women's alcoholism problems. This study compares two samples: (1) 45 alcoholic women selected from local treatment agencies and Alcoholics Anonymous groups and (2) 40 nonalcoholic women selected randomly from households. Two-hour interview schedules were administered to both samples. The Conflict Tactics Scale was used to assess spouse-to-woman violence. Alcoholic women were found to have higher levels of spouse-to-woman negative verbal interaction, moderate violence and severe violence as compared to the household women. Multivariate analyses revealed that spouse violence scores were strong predictors of type of sample. This was true even after controlling for presence of alcohol problems in the spouse, income, parental violence, parental alcohol problems and changes in parental family. These findings suggest that alcoholism treatment programs should screen for spousal violence among women alcoholics and that victims of spousal violence should be screened for alcohol-related problems.