Reconsidering the relationship between alcohol and lethal violence.
Prior event-based research regarding the relationship between alcohol and violence suffers from important limitations, including the absence of a comparison group, an inappropriate comparison group, or a comparison group that could be considered appropriate but does not control for potential confounders. To overcome such limitations, we use a matched pair design. Drawing on interviews with men imprisoned for an aggravated assault or homicide committed in response to a conflict with another man, we examine matched pairs of violent and nonviolent conflicts nested within respondents. The results suggest that guns mediate the relationship between alcohol and lethal male-male violence.
Phillips
Scott
S
Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA. Scott.Phillips@du.edu
Matusko
Jacqueline
J
Tomasovic
Elizabeth
E
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism; D005845:Georgia; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners