Alcohol, Fear, and Woman Abuse - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  June, 1999  by Ira W. Hutchison

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[TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE II OMITTED]

In general, neither race nor social class were significantly associated with the abuse variables investigated, with two exceptions. Black victims reported higher frequencies of being threatened over the course of the total relationship than did White victims ([Mu] = 25.0 and 16.8, respectively; t = 2.29, p [less than or equal to] .05). In addition, poverty level victims were more likely than either working class or borderline/middle class women to report higher rates of physical abuse over the preceding six month period ([Mu] = 4.62, 3.10, and 2.4, respectively; F = 6.74, p [less than] .01). Age of the victim, which would be assumed to constitute a significant time-at-risk factor, was weakly and inconsistently related to patterns of threats and physical abuse and threat. Age was positively correlated with the frequency of threats for both the six month time period (r = .12, p [less than or equal to] .05) and for the total threats over the course of the relationship (r = .18, p [less than or equal to] .001); however, age was negatively correlated with the six month frequency of physical abuse (r = -.15, p [less than or equal to] .01) and showed no correlation with the total relationship pattern of being hit.9

Alcohol Use Patterns

Drinking was identified by women as the primary or secondary cause of the fight - leading to the abusive incident - in over one half of the cases (52.3%). Approximately one-third (37.7%) of the women believed their partners to be drunk, and one-fifth (20.5%) thought them under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Police reports were highly correlated with victim interview data and indicated that about three fourths (72.2%) of the abusers were either "under the influence" or "showed apparent use" ([X.sup.2] = 39.04, p [less than or equal to] .00001).

High rates of drinking by both men and women in this sample are shown in a comparison with national alcohol use rates (Kantor and Straus, 1990). As shown in Fig. 1, only half as many men and women in the abused women sample as the national sample were abstinent (15.8 vs. 30.6%), and far higher percentages were either high-rate or binge drinkers (23.9 vs 4.9% and 12.6 vs. 4.6%, respectively); only the "low moderate" and "high moderate" categories of drinkers were comparable. Not surprisingly, men in the battered women sample drank far more than their women partners: over one half (52.8%) were high-rate or binge drinkers, compared to 18.4% of women. The average number of drinks consumed by men was 6.8 drinks when they were drinking (compared with 3.0 drinks/day for women who ever drank). Among the high-rate drinkers, slightly over one-third (37.0%) consumed 10 or more drinks on a daily basis. Asked to indicate how often they or their partners got drunk, women in this sample reported relatively high rates for their partners and low rates for themselves (23.0% and 1.4%, respectively were drunk "very often" or "almost always"). While offender substance use is markedly greater than for victims, there is a significant correlation between the drinking patterns of both. As seen in Table III, among abstinent offenders, 60% of victims are abstinent; among high-rate or binge drinking men, 24.7% of the victims are also high-rate or binge drinkers. Among women, only one in five (18.8%) is a high-rate/binge drinker (compared to 55% of the men). However, 72% of high-rate or binge drinking women are in relationships with men who are high-rate or binge drinkers.