Substance Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence

Domestic Violence. “The relationship between substance abuse (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) is complex and should not be reduced to ideas about one causing the other. Many theoretical perspectives explain the co-occurrence of SA and IPV including: substance use disruption of thinking processes; adverse childhood experiences; power motivation; during the process of obtaining and using substances; and co-occurring situations like hostile personalities, antisocial personality disorder, or poverty; however none of these theories account for all the co-occurrence of SA and IPV to indicate that SA causes IPV.” S ubstance abuse (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are closely associated in the public mind. Many people believe that men’s abuse of drugs or alcohol is a primary reason for their battering. Others think that SA may increase the risk for IPV, but is not a direct cause of IPV. Still others believe SA and IPV are separate issues, which only appear to be related due to other factors. In fact, both SA and IPV have many causes and many effects, and their apparent correlation applies to only a sub-group of batterers and victims (Testa, 2004). For some men who batter, SA may increase the frequency or severity of their violence. For other men, SA and IPV are separate issues whose apparently high rate of co-occurrence may stem from shared pre-conditions such as antisocial personality (Fals-Stewart, Leonard & Birchler, 2005) or from a belief that when they get drunk or high, they are going to be violent (Field, Caetano, & Nelson, 2004). Finally, for some men, both substance abuse and IPV may be manifestations of an underlying need for power and control related to gender-based distortions and insecurities (Gondolf, 1995).