title: Factors associated with partner violence among female alcoholic patients and their male partners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study described the extent of partner violence victimization and perpetration among married or cohabiting female alcoholic patients and the factors associated with it.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male-to-female and female-to-male physical partner violence were examined for 103 female alcoholic patients seeking couples-based outpatient alcoholism treatment. Partner violent (PV) and nonpartner violent (NPV) groups were compared on hypothesized risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the year before treatment, about two thirds of the women were victimized by their male partners, and a similar proportion engaged in violence toward their male partners. Severe violence also was high, with 22% victimization and 50% perpetration prevalence. Women committed more violent acts overall and were more likely to commit severely violent acts than the men in these couples. Risk factors for PV in both the victimization and perpetration models were as predicted: less education, lower income, greater relationship problems, stronger beliefs in the link between relationship problems and the female patient's drinking, greater cocaine use by the perpetrator of violence and greater emotional distress of the men. Greater alcohol and drug use and more severe alcohol problems also distinguished male perpetrators from their nonviolent counterparts in the female victimization model. Predictions that female patients in the PV group would report greater substance use and problems, childhood violence exposure and emotional distress than their female counterparts in the NPV group were not supported for either victimization or perpetration models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Partner violence is a serious problem for women in alcoholism treatment. More research is needed to increase understanding of risk factors and explanatory models for such violence.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Families and Addiction Program, Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, Massachusetts 02301, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: O'Farrell
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fals-Stewart
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires