Alcohol misuse and violent behavior: Findings from a 30-year longitudinal study
Joseph M. Boden!, David M. Fergusson, L. John Horwood
Christchurch Health and Development Study, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, New Zealand
Recently there has been growing concern about the effects of
alcohol misuse and the extent to which it may be responsible for
antisocial behavior including violent crime and intimate partner
violence (IPV). Research has shown that increasing misuse of alcohol
is associated with increased rates of violent offending (Bureau
of Justice Statistics, 2009; Fergusson and Horwood, 2000; Miller
et al., 2006; Parkhill et al., 2009; Scott et al., 1999) and violence
victimization (McClelland and Teplin, 2001; Mericle and Havassy,
2008), and IPV perpetration and victimization (Follingstad et al.,
1999; Foran and O’Leary, 2008; Jewkes, 2002; White and Widom,
2003; Wolitzky-Taylor et al., 2008). One issue arising from this
research is the extent to which the links between alcohol misuse
and violence may be causal (Gmel and Rehm, 2003; Rehm et al.,
2003, 2007).
