Intimate Partner Violence,Acculturation,and Alcohol Consumption Among Hispanic Couples in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report rates of intimate partner violence, acculturation, and alcohol consumption patterns among U.S. Hispanic couples. A probability sample of Hispanic couples in the U.S. household population (N = 527) was interviewed in 1995. Interviews averaging 1 hour in length were conducted in respondents' homes by trained interviewers. The response rate was 85%. The rates of male-to-female and female-to-male partner violence (MFPV and FMPV, respectively) were highest in the medium acculturation group, followed by the high acculturation group and the low acculturation group. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicate that couples with at least one medium acculturated couple member were 3 times more likely to experience MFPV than couples with two low acculturated partners. Intimate partner violence among medium acculturated individuals may be the result of the difficulties of negotiating between cultures without the support of a strong social network.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Caetano, R. (1987). Acculturation and drinking patterns among U.S. Hispanics. British Journal of Addiction, 82, 789-799.

Caetano, R. , Cunradi, C. , Schafer, J. , & Clark, C. (1997). Partner violence and drinking among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the U.S. Presented at the 1997 Annual Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, July 19-24, San Francisco, CA.

Cahalan, D. , Roizen, R. , & Room, R. (1976). Alcohol problems and their prevention: Public attitudes in California. In R. Room & S. Sheffield (Eds.), The prevention of alcohol problems: Report of a conference (pp. 354-403). Sacramento, CA: California State Office of Alcoholism.

Cervantes, R. C. (1993). The Hispanic Family Intervention Program: Empirical approaches to substance use prevention. In R. S. Mayers , B. L. Kail , & T. D. Watts (Eds.), Hispanic substance use (pp. 101-114). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

Hamberger, L. K. , & Hastings, J. E. (1991). Personality correlates of men who batter and nonviolent men: Some continuities and discontinuities. Journal of Family Violence, 6, 131-147.

Kantor, G. K. (1990, June). Ethnicity, drinking, and family violence. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Baltimore.

Kantor, G. K. , Jasinski, J. , & Aldarondo, E. (1993, November). Incidence of Hispanic drinking and intra-family violence. Paper presented at the annual Research Society on Alcoholism conference, San Antonio, TX.

Leonard, K. E. , & Senchak, M. (1993). Alcohol and premarital aggression among newlywed couples. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 55 (Suppl. 11), 96-108.

Lipsey, M. W. , Wilson, D. B. , Cohen, M. A. , & Derzon, J. H. (1996). Is there a casual relationship between alcohol use and violence? In M. Galanter (Ed.), Recent developments in alcoholism (pp. 245-278). New York: Plenum.

10.

Neff, J. A. , Holamon, B. , & Schluter, T. D. (1995). Spousal violence among Anglos, Blacks, and Mexican Americans: The role of demographic variables, psychosocial predictors, and alcohol consumption. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 1-21.

11.

O'Leary, K. D. , Malone, J. , & Tyree, A. (1994). Physical aggression in early marriage: Prerelationship and relationship effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 594-602.

12.

Reider, E. E. , Zucker, R. A. , Noll, R. B. , Maguin, E. T. , & Fitzerald, H. E. (1988, August). Alcohol involvement and family violence in a high risk sample: I. Spousal violence. Paper presented at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA.

13.

Roizen, J. (1993). Issues in the epidemiology of alcohol and violence. In S. E. Martin (Ed.), Alcohol and interpersonal violence: Fostering multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 3-36). Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

14.

Schafer, J. , Caetano, R. , & Clark, C. (1997). Rates of domestic violence among U.S. couples. Berkeley, CA: Alcohol Research Group.

15.

Sorenson, S. B. , & Telles, C. A. (1991). Self-reports of spousal violence in a Mexican-American and non-Hispanic White population. Violence and Victims, 6, 3-15.

16.

Straus, M. A. , & Gelles, R. J. (1990). Physical violence in American families: Risk factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

17.

Straus, M. A. , Gelles, R. J. , & Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

18.

U.S. National Committee for Injury Prevention and Control . (1989). Injury prevention: Meeting the challenge. New York: Oxford University Press.

19.

Widom, C. S. (1989). Does violence beget violence? A criminal examination of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 3-28.