Alcohol Misuse and Women’s Use of Aggression in Intimate Relationships: The Mediating Role of Motivations for Using Aggression

Abstract

The relationship between alcohol misuse and women’s use of intimate partner violence (IPV) aggression has been well studied; however, there has been no research to date on women’s self-reported motivations for use of IPV aggression (e.g., self-defense, control) as an underlying mechanism explaining this link. Accordingly, this study aims to examine whether the effects of alcohol misuse on IPV aggression vary as a function of women’s motivations for using aggression. Participants were 412 ethnically diverse community women, between the ages of 18 and 65, in intimate relationships characterized by bidirectional IPV. The Motives and Reasons for IPV Scale was used to assess women’s reasons for using IPV aggression. Results revealed that the tough guise motive (i.e., wanting to appear tough, intimidating, and willing to harm one’s partner) explained the relationship between alcohol misuse and physical and sexual IPV aggression. Findings suggest the utility of incorporating the assessment of women’s motivations for IPV aggression in an effort to provide better informed intervention addressing the underlying reasons women use IPV aggression.

Keywords

intimate partner violence motives female aggression Motives and Reasons for Intimate Partner Violence Scale alcohol misuse

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Archer

(2000). Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 651–680. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.5.651

Archer

(2002). Sex differences in physically aggressive acts between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 7, 313–351. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-1789(01)00061-1

Babor

T. F.

Higgins-Biddle

J. C.

Saunders

J. B.

Monteiro

M. G.

(2001). The alcohol use disorders identification test: Guidelines for use in primary health care. World Health Organization.

Bair-Merritt

M. H.

Shea Crowne

Thompson

D. A.

Sibinga

Trent

Campbell

(2010). Why do women use intimate partner violence? A systematic review of women’s motivations. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 11(4), 178–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838010379003

Black

Basile

Breiding

Smith

Walters

Merrick

… Stevens

(2011). National intimate partner and sexual violence survey: 2010 summary report. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf

Bushman

B. J.

Cooper

H. M.

(1990). Effects of alcohol on human aggression: An integrative research review. Psychological Bulletin, 107(3), 341–354. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.3.341

Caetano

McGrath

Ramisetty-Mikler

Field

C. A.

(2005). Drinking, alcohol problems and the five-year recurrence and incidence of male to female and female to male partner violence. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 29(1), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ALC.0000150015.84381.63

Caldwell

J. E.

Swan

S. C.

Allen

C. T.

Sullivan

T. P.

Snow

D. L.

(2009). Why I hit him: Women’s reasons for intimate partner violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 18(7), 672–697. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926770903231783

Catalano

S. M.

(2013). Intimate partner violence—Attributes of victimization, 1993–2011. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. https://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipvav9311.pdf

10.

Coker

A. L.

Smith

P. H.

Bethea

King

M. R.

McKeown

R. E.

(2000). Physical health consequences of physical and psychological intimate partner violence. Archives of Family Medicine, 9(5), 451–457.

11.

Del Boca

F. K.

Darkes

. (2003). The validity of self-reports of alcohol consumption: State of the science and challenges for research. Addiction, 98, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1359-6357.2003.00586.x

12.

Dowd

(2001). Female perpetrators of partner aggression: Relevant issues and treatment. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma, 5, 73–104. https://doi.org/10.1300/J146v05n02_06

13.

Drapkin

McCrady

Swingle

J. M.

Epstein

E. E.

(2005). Exploring bidirectional couple violence in a clinical sample of female alcoholics. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 213–219. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2005.66.213

14.

Eckhardt

C. I.

Parrott

D. J.

Sprunger

J. G.

(2015). Mechanisms of alcohol-facilitated intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 21(8), 939–957. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801215589376

15.

Finkel

E. J.

Eckhardt

C. I.

(2013). Intimate partner violence. In Simpson

J. A.

Campbell

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of close relationships (pp. 452–474). Oxford University Press.

16.

Giancola

P. R.

Josephs

R. A.

Parrott

D. J.

Duke

A. A.

(2010). Alcohol myopia revisited: Clarifying aggression and other acts of disinhibition through a distorted lens. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 265–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369467

17.

Giancola

P. R.

Levinson

C. A.

Corman

M. D.

Godlaski

A. J.

Morris

D. H.

Phillips

J. P.

Holt

J. C.

(2009). Men and women, alcohol and aggression. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 17(3), 154–164. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016385

18.

Gilbert

El-Bassel

Manuel

Golder

Sanders

(2006). An integrated relapse prevention and relationship safety intervention for women on methadone: Testing short-term effects on intimate partner violence and substance use. Violence and Victims, 21, 657–672. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.21.5.657

19.

Hayes

A. F.

(2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling. University of Kansas.

20.

Hettrich

E. L.

O’Leary

K. D.

(2007). Females’ reasons for their physical aggression in dating relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(9), 1131–1143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260507303729

21.

Johnson

M. P.

Ferraro

K. J.

(2000). Research on domestic violence in the 1990s: Making distinctions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 948–963.

22.

Koss

M. P.

Gidycz

C. A.

Wisniewski

(1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 55, 162-170.

23.

Leigh

B. C.

(2000). Using daily reports to measure drinking and drinking patterns. Journal of Substance Abuse, 12(1–2), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-3289(00)00040-7

24.

Leonard

K. E.

(2005). Alcohol and intimate partner violence: When can we say that heavy drinking is a contributing cause of violence?Addiction, 100(4), 422–425. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00994.x

25.

McKinney

C. M.

Caetano

Rodriguez

L. A.

Okoro

(2010). Does alcohol involvement increase the severity of intimate partner violence?Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34(4), 655–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2009.01134.x

26.

Pico-Alfonso

M. A.

Garcia-Linares

M. I.

Celda-Navarro

Blasco-Ros

Echeburua

Martinez

(2006). The impact of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate male partner violence on women’s mental health: Depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, state anxiety, and suicide. Journal of Women’s Health, 15(5), 599–611. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2006.15.599

27.

Powers

M. B.

Vedel

Emmelkamp

P. M.

(2008). Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) for alcohol and drug use disorders: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(6), 952–962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2008.02.002

28.

Preacher

K. J.

Hayes

A. F.

(2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 717–731. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206553

29.

Saunders

J. B.

Aasland

O. G.

Babor

T. F.

De la Fuente

J. R.

Grant

(1993). Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption-II. Addiction, 88(6), 791–804.

30.

Schumm

J. A.

O’Farrell

T. J.

Murphy

C. M.

Fals-Stewart

(2009). Partner violence before and after couples-based alcoholism treatment for female alcoholic patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 1136–1146. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017389

31.

Steele

C. M.

Josephs

R. A.

(1990). Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45, 921–933. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.8.921

32.

Straus

M. A.

Hamby

S. L.

Boney-McCoy

Sugarman

D. B.

(1996). The revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283–316. https://doi.org/10.1177/019251396017003001

33.

Straus

M. A.

Hamby

S. L.

Warren

W. L.

(2003). The Conflict Tactics Scales handbook. Western Psychological Services.

34.

Stuart

G. L.

Moore

T. M.

Elkins

S. R.

O’Farrell

T. J.

Temple

J. R.

Ramsey

S. E.

Shorey

R. C.

(2013). The temporal association between substance use and intimate partner violence among women arrested for domestic violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 81(4), 681–690. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032876

35.

Stuart

G. L.

Moore

T. M.

Hellmuth

J. C.

Ramsey

S. E.

Kahler

C. W.

(2006). Reasons for intimate partner violence perpetration among arrested women. Violence Against Women, 12(7), 609–621. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801206290173

36.

Stuart

G. L.

Moore

T. M.

Ramsey

S. E.

Kahler

C. W.

(2004). Hazardous drinking and relationship violence perpetration and victimization in women arrested for domestic violence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65, 46–53. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2004.65.46

37.

Sullivan

T. P.

Ashare

R. L.

Jaquier

Tennen

(2012). Risk factors for alcohol-related problems among victims of partner violence. Substance Use & Misuse, 47, 673-685. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826084.2012.658132

38.

Swan

S. C.

Gambone

L. J.

Caldwell

J. E.

Sullivan

T. P.

Snow

D. L.

(2008). A review of research on women’s use of violence with male intimate partners. Violence and Victims, 23(3), 301–314.

39.

Swan

S. C.

Snow

D. L.

(2003). Behavioral and psychological differences among abused women who use violence in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 9(1), 75–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801202238431

40.

Swan

S. C.

Sullivan

T. P.

(2002). The Motivations for Violence Scale. Yale University: New Haven, Connecticut. Unpublished measure.

41.

Tabachnick

B. G.

Fidell

L. S.

(2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.

42.

Testa

Livingston

J. A.

Leonard

K. E.

(2003). Women’s substance use and experiences of intimate partner violence: A longitudinal investigation among a community sample. Addictive Behaviors, 28, 1649–1664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2003.08.040

43.

Weaver

T. L.

Gilbert

El-Bassel

Resnick

H. S.

Noursi

(2015). Identifying and intervening with substance-using women exposed to intimate partner violence: Phenomenology, comorbidities, and integrated approaches within primary care and other agency settings. Journal of Women’s Health, 24(1), 51–56. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2014.4866

44.

Weiss

N. H.

Dixon-Gordon

K. L.

Peasant

Jaquier

Johnson

Sullivan

T. P.

(2017). A latent profile analysis of intimate partner victimization and aggression and examination of between-class differences in psychopathology symptoms and risky behaviors. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9, 370–378. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000202

45.

Weiss

N. H.

Duke

A. A.

Sullivan

T. P.

(2014). Probable posttraumatic stress disorder and women’s use of aggression in intimate relationships: The moderating role of alcohol dependence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27(5), 550–557. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21960

46.

Wolfer

(1999). “It happens all the time”: Overcoming the limits of memory and method for chronic community violence experience. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 1070-1094.