Violence among men and women in substance use disorder treatment: a multi-level event-based analysis.
BACKGROUND
This study examined associations between acute alcohol and drug use and violence towards others in conflict incidents (overall, partner, and non-partner conflict incidents) by men and women recruited from substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.


METHODS
Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain details about interpersonal conflict incidents (substance use, whether specific conflicts were with intimate partners or non-partners) in the 180 days pre-treatment. Participants for this study were selected for screening positive for past-year violence (N=160; 77% men, 23% women).


RESULTS
Multi-level multinomial regression models showed that after adjusting for clustering within individual participants, the most consistent predictors of violence across models were acute cocaine use (significant for overall, intimate partner and non-partner models), acute heavy alcohol use (significant for overall and non-partner models), and male gender (significant in all models).


CONCLUSIONS
This study was the first to explicitly examine the role of acute alcohol and drug use across overall, partner and non-partner conflict incidents. Consistent with prior studies using a variety of methodologies, alcohol, cocaine use and male gender was most consistently and positively related to violence severity (e.g., resulting in injury). The results provide important and novel event-level information regarding the relationship between acute alcohol and specific drug use and the severity of violence in interpersonal conflict incidents.
Chermack
Stephen T
ST
University of Michigan Addiction Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA. Chermack@umich.edu
Grogan-Kaylor
Andy
A
Perron
Brian E
BE
Murray
Regan L
RL
De Chavez
Peter
P
Walton
Maureen A
MA
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000628:therapy; D000437:Alcoholism; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D014754:Violence; D014947:Wounds and Injuries; D055815:Young Adult