Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence

Alcohol consumption has long been associated with domestic violence, and erratic temperamental issues. Different studies have pitted substance abuse as either a cause of domestic violence or as a means to aggravate and reveal underlying biases. In any case, substance abuse seems to promote intimate partner violence.

For a more in-depth analysis of this link between substance abuse and domestic violence, read this article from The Fix. Richard Juman talks with Dr. Kenneth Leonard, the award-winning director of the Research Institute on Addictions at the University of Buffalo, to shed some light on this matter.

 

Examining the Link Between Substance Use and Domestic Violence

Looking back on your body of work to date, what aspects do you feel have had the most significant impact on the addiction field? 

Kenneth Leonard: There have been two aspects of our work that I think have had the greatest impact. The first of these has been our work on substance use and intimate partner violence. We began this work in the late 1980s, focusing primarily on alcohol use. At that time, there were consistent findings from college students in laboratory studies that acute alcohol consumption resulted in increased aggression, and although based largely on one study and cross-cultural observations, there was a growing sense that intoxication was used as an excuse for aggression, but did not have any causal impact. Click here for full post

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