Risk Factors Associated with Alcohol Use and Intimate Partner Violence

Research has found a high correlation between alcohol use and violence, though the exact mechanisms associated with the relation requires more research. The current study examined mechanisms that modify the relation between alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. The study explored the role of emotion regulation as a potential mediator of the relation between alcohol use and IPV perpetration. Further, changes in state anger after two different relationship tasks were examined to determine if they moderated the direct links between emotion regulation and IPV perpetration. Results suggest that alcohol use was negatively associated with emotion regulation and positively associated with IPV perpetration. Additionally, emotion regulation was found to mediate the relation between alcohol use and IPV. Moreover, alcohol use was found to influence IPV through emotion regulation at high and medium levels of state anger change after laboratory tasks, but these indirect effects did not improve the overall mediation between alcohol and IPV. Clinically, this suggests that treatments for IPV may benefit from including emotional regulation skills, especially for perpetrators who have higher levels of alcohol use and are quick to anger during relationship-related tasks.