Alcohol and family violence Alcohol Gambling and Family
Alcohol and family violence Alcohol, Gambling and Family Violence Forum for Local Government 22 March 2017 Ingrid Wilson, Research Fellow Judith Lumley Centre , La Trobe University latrobe. edu. au CRICOS Provider 00115 M
Background Post-doctoral Research Fellow – La Trobe University ‘Tackling alcohol-related family violence – a multidisciplinary program to build strategies prevent and reduce domestic violence • Judith Lumley Centre (Prof Angela Taft) • Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (Prof Robin Room) • La Trobe Violence Against Women research Network (La. VAWN)
Not all partner violence is alcohol-related Alcohol is involved in a substantial proportion of partner violence
Alcohol-related family violence in Australia Alcohol involved in between 23% and 65% of family violence incidents reported to police (Police data sources cited in FARE, 2015) 5 in 10 Australian women reported that alcohol or other drugs contributed to most recent incident of physical assault from a male (ANROWS, 2016 Additional analysis of ABS Personal Safety Survey, 2012) Indigenous partner homicides 13 times more likely to involve alcohol than non-indigenous partner homicides (Dearden & Payne, 2009) 40% females experienced alcohol- related physical violence in intimate relationship compared with 11% of males (AIHW, 2011 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey) 50% of partner violence is alcoholrelated; 73% physical assaults (Laslett et al. , 2010) Australian victimisation survey: 1 in 3 (35%) recent incidents were alcoholrelated (Mouzos and Makkai, 2004)
Alcohol: a global risk factor for partner violence Multi-country studies European Union Prevalence of physical and/or sexual partner violence increases from 5% to 23% where partner gets drunk once or more times a month (European Agency for Fundamental Human Rights, 2014) * Some groups more affected than others Single country studies: US Brazil Ukraine Germany New Zealand Australia Mongolia Africa India Uganda Women whose partners got drunk often, 6 times more likely to report partner violence
Alcohol as a risk factor over the lifespan of intimate relationships – more critical in early relationships (O’Leary & Woodin, 2005) Adolescent, teen dating relationships (Niolon et al. , 2015; Rothman et al. , 2012) College dating (Stappenbeck & Fromme, 2010) Early marriage (Quigley & Leonard, 2000) Pregnancy, postpartum and children (Helmuth et al. , 2013; Salvi et al. , 2014) Established relationships - problem drinkers (Murphy & Ting, 2010; Wiseman, 1991)
“Alcohol may not cause partner violence but it seems to make things worse” (Graham et al. , 2011)
Opportunities for intervention “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. ” (World Health Organization, 2010; p. 53)
Living with a violent drinker – women’s experience Fearing the “changed” man Living the cycle of drinking and partner violence Connecting drinking and violence over the relationship trajectory
Living the cycle of drinking and intimate partner violence Recognising patterns “Once he started drinking on a Friday night then Mr Happy would. . . Mr Bouncy would come out again. But Mr Happy started turning into Mr Sarcastic and Mr Making Personal Remarks and. . . and then being threatening and then, you know, hurting. ” (Kath, 50 years) HUNGOVER* Bad-tempered Uncommunicative DRUNK Incapacitated Passed out INTOXICATED “flip” “switch” “crazy aggressive” “in your face” Physical abuse threats SOBER Remorse Denial Silence CRAVING* Build up Restlessness STARTING DRINKING Sociable, fun, high “life of the party” GETTING DRUNK Baiting, blaming Looking for a fight Verbal abuse * Partners with more serious drinking problems
Developing safety strategies • Preventing • Predicting • Responding • Protecting “when he was drunk I would just try not to argue with him because I knew that it would never end well if I argued. The only - the way I stopped it was if I just shut up. ” (Linda, 42 years) HUNGOVER* Bad-tempered Uncommunicative DRUNK Incapacitated Passed out INTOXICATED “flip” “switch” “crazy aggressive” “in your face” Physical abuse threats SOBER Remorse Denial Silence CRAVING* Build up Restlessness STARTING DRINKING Sociable, fun, high “life of the party” GETTING DRUNK Baiting, blaming Looking for a fight Verbal abuse
Connecting drinking and violence over the relationship trajectory
(dis)missing early warning signs “I think at the start… when he’s around another group of, like, another six boys who were drinking just as heavily, you don’t flag it… and it’s always out to have a good time…” (Simone, 28 years) “I didn’t see it as a problem because I just thought that was normal… We’d go out together and there’d be perhaps a group of us, and then the girls would go home and the boys would just continue on, and often he’d get home at 5 am or even midday the next day… it didn’t really concern me because I knew he wasn’t cheating…” (Belinda, 35 years)
Realising problems and identifying patterns (experiencing the cycle) “I think a few months into the marriage… I started noticing he had alcohol issues … And initially he never was abusive when he was drinking — he’ll just drink, pass out, go to sleep… but eventually I started getting frustrated, and I started questioning why, and that’s when he started becoming a little bit more abusive…” (Sarita, 28 years) Others – drinking/aggression context-based
‘Fixing’ his drinking to stop the abuse Private actions: pouring out alcohol, creating home as a dry zone, limiting drinking occasions, informal control Help seeking: GPs, mental health, relationship counsellors, drug and alcohol
Managing daily life around the drinking and abuse • • Maintaining normality Managing safety Keeping it hidden Distancing “Once the alcohol kicked in then you’ve only got a small window… where you could talk to him about things where he wouldn’t get defensive… (Fran, 46 years)
Caring as dangerous work “Whenever I used to go over, I used to hide my handbag… I’d always make sure I had my keys on me, I was very strategic because you never knew when something might shift. I was very mindful of my safety and I always kept a couple of metres away. ” (Geraldine, 48 years)
Leaving … and ongoing impact Waiting for the day “Five years now on, and I’m still waiting for the moment when he will become drunk and angry … we are the damaged goods (laughs)” (Carla, 43 years, speaking of her new relationship) Resetting normal • De-sensitising around alcohol • Negotiating non-violence in new relationships Enduring impact “I get sort of a trauma reaction if people were drinking too much around me so I don’t tend to socialise much in that area. ” (Anne. Marie, 45 years)
The culture of men’s drinking “You’re never going to stop people drinking because it’s freely available. They’re never going to say, ‘You can’t come into this pub because you physically assaulted your wife. ’ That’s never going to happen (laughs). Because those men in there, half of them probably do it too, and it’s their culture. It’s normal. It’s just normal to drink and look the other way. ” (Linda, 42 years)
Conclusions and Implications for Local Government Key message: Partner alcohol use may not cause violence but it disempowers women in their lives – “the mere threat to go drinking acquires the power that a raised stick would have. ” (Room, 1980) A. Liquor Control Reform B. Municipal Health Plans • Connect alcohol strategies with PVAW strategies = reducing the potency of a known and modifiable risk factor • Reflect gendered nature of drinking AND family violence • Change norms that promote excessive drinking AND disrespectful attitudes towards women
Thank you • Wilson IM, Graham K, & Taft A. (2014). Alcohol interventions, alcohol policy and intimate partner violence: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 881. doi: 10. 1186/1471 -2458 -14 -881 • Wilson IM, Graham K, & Taft A. (2017). Living the cycle of drinking and violence: A qualitative study of women's experience of alcohol-related intimate partner violence. Drug and Alcohol Review, 36(1); 115 -124 doi: 10. 1111/dar. 12405 • Graham K, Wilson I, Taft A. (2017). The broader context of preventing alcohol-related intimate partner violence. Drug and Alcohol Review, 36(1) doi: 10 -12 10. 1111/dar. 12422. I. Wilson@latrobe. edu. au Twitter @ingridmwilson
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