1. Alcohol-related intimate partner violence
Can interventions that reduce problem drinking also reduce partner violence?
Ingrid Wilson, PhD Candidate
La Trobe University

2. Outline
What do we know about alcohol-related intimate partner violence (IPV)?
What interventions or strategies have an impact on alcohol-related IPV?
What role can local government play?

3. Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent worldwide (WHO, 2002) Significant issue for Australian women (ABS Personal Safety Survey 2005) Major impact on women’s health and well-being (VicHealth, 2004)

4. Prevalence
Alcohol is involved in a significant proportion of intimate partner violence

5. Prevalence
US studies % involve alcohol (Leonard, 2001)
Alcohol was a definite factor in 43% of family violence incidents in Victoria in (Victorian Department of Justice 2012)
Indigenous partner homicides 13 times more likely to involve alcohol than non-indigenous partner homicides (Dearden & Payne, 2009)
41% of police recorded domestic assaults in NSW in 2010 were alcohol-related (Grech and Burgess, 2011)
Australian victimisation survey - 1 in 3 (35%) recent incidents were alcohol-related (Mouzos and Makkai, 2004)
50.3% of partner violence is alcohol-related; 73% physical assaults (Laslett et al., 2010)

6. Alcohol – what role? Type of drinking
Exact role of alcohol – complex and contentious
Causation
Lack of consensus on theories and models
Alcohol as an excuse
Type of drinking
Quantity per drinking occasion rather than frequency (Graham & Bernards, 2008)
Heavy episodic/binge drinking = more aggression and more severe violence (Foran & O’Leary, 2008)
Risk increases when one or both partners drink (Abramsky, 2011)
“Alcohol may not cause partner violence,
but it seems to make it worse” (Graham et al, 2011)

7. Support for primary prevention
“The strong association between alcohol and intimate partner violence and sexual violence suggests that primary prevention interventions to reduce the harm caused by alcohol could potentially be effective.” (WHO, 2010)

8. Interventions? Small evidence base Limitations Significant gaps
Individual
Societal
Community
Relationship
The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention (Krug, 2002; Heise, 1998)
Alcoholism Treatment (individual & couples)
Alcohol outlet density
Alcohol
restrictions
Small evidence base
Limitations
Significant gaps
Alcohol pricing
& taxation

9. Opportunities for Local Government
Alcohol outlet density
Promising area for local government to take a role
Growing area of research
Overall, studies show association between density of outlets and domestic violence
Field is divided regarding which type of outlets
Livingston (2011) substantial effect for packaged liquor. An increase of 1 outlet per 1,000 residents associated with 28.6% increase in domestic violence
May have relevance for planning decisions

10. Alcohol outlet density studies
Study
Year
Country
Off-premise
On-premise
Gorman
1998 US X
McKinney et al.,
2009 ✓
Livingston
2010
Aust
2011
Liang & Chikritzhs
Cunradi et al.,
2012
Roman & Reid
Cameron et al, NZ

11. Conclusion Alcohol-related intimate partner violence is prevalent
While the role of alcohol is not clear, it is a significant risk factor across countries and cultures (Abramsky, Watts, et al., 2009)
Alcohol is a modifiable risk factor but more studies at the population level are needed