Drinking and marital aggression in newlyweds: An event-based analysis of drinking and the occurrence of husband marital aggression

Objective: Research suggests that domestically violent men are more likely to be heavy drinkers than nonviolent men. However, very little data has add ressed the relationship between the occurrence of a domestic violence episo de and the co-occurrence of husband or wife alcohol consumption. The purpos e of this study was to examine the relationship between husband and wife dr inking and whether the most serious conflict involved verbal aggression, mo derate physical aggression or severe physical aggression. Method: Newlywed couples (n = 366) who were assessed with respect to risk factors for marita l violence at the time of marriage were interviewed at the end of their fir st year of marriage. These in-person interviews focused on characteristics (location, presence of other people, husband drinking, wife drinking) of th e most severe verbal conflict, and the first and the most severe episode of physical aggression. Results: After controlling for individual difference risk factors including husband and wife drinking patterns, husband drinking was more likely in episodes of physical vs episodes of verbal aggression. This finding was consistent in both husband and wife, and consistent in bot h between-groups and within-groups analyses. Wife drinking was largely unre lated to occurrence or severity of violence. Conclusions: These results sup port the contention that alcohol use may contribute to the occurrence and/o r severity of domestic violence, particularly in the early stages of marria ge.