Comparative Study of Domestic Violence in Wives of Alcohol Dependent Males Versus That in Abstainers/ Social Drinkers Wives

Objective : 1) To study the occurrence of domestic violence and examine the link between education and occupation on abuse, in study group. 2) To compare the above observations with those of socio demographically similar, control group. Study design: Community based, Case-control study. Study setting: Urban slum community at P/North ward of B.M.C., Mumbai. Participants: 107 couple units in both study group (alcohol dependent males and wives) and control groups (abstainers/social drinkers and wives). Statistical analysis: Percentages, Chi-square test. Results: Physical (44.86%) and psychological (68.22%, p < 0.001) abuse was significantly higher and sexual abuse was 10.28% in wives of alcohol dependent males as compared to 28.04%, 27.10% and 4.67% respectively, in abstainers/social drinkers’ wives. More than twice the number of women in study group suffered severe physical abuse compared to control group. There was statistically significant (p < 0.05) higher abuse in wives of illiterate males of both groups and in control group significantly more illiterate women were abused. In study group, there was higher abuse in unemployed women. There was no case on abuse among employed women in control group.