NCJ Number
130603
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 31-41
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The social acceptability of drunken violence as well as the likelihood of its occurrence was measured as a means of determining attributions about drunken violence toward victims of both genders.
Abstract
Psychology students developed realistic scenarios depicting violent interaction in which intoxication of aggressor and victim and sex of victim varied. After reading the scenario the students completed a set of point rating scales measuring dispositional and situational attributions, responsibility, blame, and normative judgments about the aggressor and victim. In general, drunkenness in a violent event made things worse for the intoxicated person, from the observers' judgment, regardless of gender role or role in the violence. A drunken aggressor was blamed more than a sober aggressor and an intoxicated victim was blamed more than a sober victim. In contrast to results of other studies, the intoxication of the aggressor in this study increased blame and marginally decreased causality, but did not affect responsibility attributions. These results indicated that the sex of the victim did not significantly affect attributions and that alcohol intoxication constitutes a sufficient reason for victim blaming. 3 notes, 5 tables, and 32 references (Author abstract modified)