Drinking Locations Factor Into Partner Violence, Study Says

Drinking Locations Factor Into Partner Violence, Study Says

TUESDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthDay News) — Specific drinking locations and situations are linked with different types of partner violence, a new study finds.

The study included more than 1,500 couples in California who were asked about their drinking in six locations: restaurants; bars; parties at someone else’s home; quiet evenings at home; with friends in one’s own home; and in parks and other public places.

Men drinking in bars and at parties away from home and women drinking in parks and other public places were both associated with increased male-to-female violence, said the researchers from the Prevention Research Center in California and Arizona State University.

The investigators also identified a link between men drinking during quiet evenings at home and increased female-to-male violence, according to the study in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal Addiction.

It’s long been known that the risk of partner violence increases with the frequency of drinking and the amount of alcohol consumed, a journal news release noted. These findings show that different types of drinking locations and situations also affect the chances of partner violence.

In terms of prevention, it may be possible to reduce drinking-related violence against spouses and partners by encouraging people in risky relationships to avoid drinking in certain locations and situations.

This type of advice could be more effective in the short term than counseling people to drink less, the authors suggested in the news release.

More information

The American Psychiatric Association has more about domestic violence.