NCJ Number
181269
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2000 Pages: 37-48
Editor(s)
Claire M. Renzetti
Date Published
2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between battering severity and alcohol use among battered women in the Los Angeles area.
Abstract
The women were recruited with flyers posted at many Los Angeles area shelters and community service centers, and 78 women voluntarily participated in the study. Instruments used to measure study variables of interest included a demographic questionnaire, the Sexual Abuse Exposure Questionnaire, the Assessing Environments III, and the Conflict Tactics Scales. The study employed multiple regression analyses to examine predictive relationships between three forms of trauma exposure--childhood physical and sexual abuse and domestic violence--and alcohol use. Both battering severity and childhood sexual abuse were positively correlated with alcohol use. Childhood sexual abuse was the stronger predictor when co-linearity was controlled. The authors believe that the finding of a significant relationship between parental battering and alcohol abuse of mothers may suggest a social learning phenomenon and that clinicians need to be alert to increased risks posed by multiple forms of trauma exposure and parental alcohol abuse for alcohol abuse in their female clients. 34 references and 3 tables