Linking Drug-Related Activities With Experiences of Partner Violence: A Focus Group Study of Women in Methadone Treatment

• NCJ Number: 191947
• Journal: Violence and Victims Volume: 16 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 517-536
• Author(s): Louisa Gilbert; Nabila El-Bassel; Valli Rajah; Anthony Foleno; Victoria Frye
• Date Published: October 2001
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA11027
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reports on a study that examined various contexts in which drug-related activities may be linked with intimate partner violence among women in methadone treatment.

Abstract

The study is based on 14 focus groups with 68 predominantly Latina and African American women who reported recent partner abuse. Guided by Goldstein's tripartite model, gender theory, and trauma theory, the study explores how partner violence may be related to psychopharmacological effects of drug use and to conflicts over procuring and splitting drugs. It also examines whether women use drugs to cope with the violence. Across the focus groups, women's low social status and perceived sexual availability as "drug-using women," their partner's substance use, their own verbal aggression under the influence of crack and alcohol, and conflicts over procuring and splitting drugs all played a role in their victimization. Conflicts over gender role expectations interacted with drug-related activities, increasing the likelihood of a violent outcome. The article suggests the need for further studies to elicit fine-grained contextual data on the effects of multiple drug use and modes of drug use on partner violence, and to disentangle the effect of race/ethnicity and poverty on the relationship between drug use and partner violence. Tables, references