NCJ Number
195616
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: March 2002 Pages: 457-471
Date Published
March 2002
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Drawing upon the deviance disavowal assumption, the embolden hypothesis, and expectancy theories, this study tested the hypothesis that alcohol might be used intentionally to promote or excuse the violent behavior that stems from drinking.
Abstract
In the study of family violence, researchers paid attention to the deviance disavowal assumption. Gelles and Straus observed that the association between alcohol use and family violence may be a function of the deviance disavowal or the "time-out" properties of alcohol; i.e., some men get drunk to give themselves an excuse to hit their spouses and children. Another related assumption is the embolden hypothesis. This hypothesis views alcohol as an enabler or facilitator of certain violent acts. Also, aggression-related alcohol expectancies may play an important role in explaining the link between alcohol and violence. Alcohol expectancies are the beliefs people hold about the direct effect of drinking. Using data from the 1993 Buffalo Longitudinal Study of Young Men, the current study examined the independent effect of aggression-related alcohol expectancies on drinking before offending and the interactive effect of aggression-related alcohol expectancies and daily alcohol consumption on drinking before offending. The Buffalo study was a 5-year panel study of adolescent substance use and delinquency with a probability sample of 625 males aged 16-19 from Buffalo, New York. The primary variables in the current study were daily drinking patterns, aggression-related alcohol expectancies, and drinking before committing violent acts. The measure of aggression-related alcohol expectancies was done with Leigh's expectancy scales. This is a composite index of five items that ask respondents about their beliefs concerning behavior after drinking alcohol. The study found a significant effect of aggression-related alcohol expectancies on alcohol use before offending. This finding supports the argument that drinking may be a means individuals use to prepare themselves to commit violent acts. A significant interactive effect was found between aggression-related alcohol expectancies and daily alcohol consumption. "Heavy" daily alcohol consumption increased the likelihood of drinking before offending for individuals who had high aggression-related alcohol expectancies more than those who had low expectancies. Aggression-related alcohol expectancies moderated the effect of daily drinking on drinking before offending. The implications of these findings are discussed for the link between alcohol and violence. 4 tables, 1 figure, 25 references, and appended data on correlations among primary variables