Heavy episodic drinking and intimate partner violence perpetration: Do interpersonal stress perceptions matter?

Abstract

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern. Heavy episodic drinking (HED; i.e., drinking 5+ drinks for men or 4+ drinks for women in a 2-hr period) is a contributing cause of IPV, yet HED does not elicit IPV for all individuals, under all circumstances. Theory and research have identified important intrapersonal moderators of alcohol-related IPV. However, these approaches fall short in conceptualizing alcohol-related IPV from an interpersonal perspective. Guided by the I³ model, the present study used a dyadic approach to examine associations between partners' HED, interpersonal stress perceptions (defined as partners' perceptions of each other's appraisal of stressful life situations), and psychological and physical/sexual IPV perpetration.

Method: Sixty-seven mixed-gender couples (N = 134 individuals) in committed relationships provided data via an online self-report questionnaire.

Results: Actor-partner interdependence models showed that when HED was low, couples' likelihood of perpetrating IPV was independent of the accuracy of partners' perceptions of each other's stress. However, increases in HED were associated with increased risk for IPV perpetration among couples who had accurate perceptions of each other's stress, whereas among couples in which one partner under- or overestimated how stressed the other felt, the risk for IPV perpetration did not increase as HED increased.

Conclusions: If replicated, these findings provide support that under- and overestimating partners' stress may dampen the disinhibiting effects of HED on IPV perpetration that exist among couples who perceive their partners' stress accurately. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).