Examining Relationships Among Alcohol Use Disorder, Child Caretaking, and Intimate Partner Violence in High-Risk Couples

Purpose

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern that is highly prevalent among couples with alcohol misuse. It is well-established that alcohol can exacerbate negative IPV outcomes; however, less is known about how hazardous alcohol consumption, combined with family composition, such as the presence of children in the home, may impact IPV in a dyadic context. The current study examined the separate and interactive roles of the couple’s caretaking status and alcohol use disorder (AUD) severity on psychological and physical IPV victimization.

Methods

Secondary data were analyzed from 100 couples considered high risk due to reporting physical IPV and at least one partner meeting criteria for AUD. Multilevel mixture models were used to dyadically test how caretaking status and each partner’s AUD severity, separately and interactively, related to the couple’s psychological and physical IPV severity.

Results

Caretaking status and one’s own AUD severity, when examined separately, were positively related to psychological and physical IPV victimization. One’s partner’s AUD severity was also related to severity of physical IPV victimization. There was no evidence of an interaction in this sample.

Conclusions

Caretaking status played an important role in IPV victimization even when accounting for AUD in high-risk couples. Caretaking status and AUD did not interact; however, the significant main effects suggest an additive association, such that the combination of AUD severity and caretaking is more risky for IPV victimization than either factor alone. Findings highlight the importance of considering family composition and alcohol use behaviors on IPV risk.