The association between substance use and intimate partner violence (IPV) is robust. It is less clear how the use of specific substances relates to relationship violence. This study examined IPV perpetration and victimization related to the following specific substance use disorders: alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and opioid. The poly-substance use of alcohol and cocaine, as well as alcohol and marijuana were also examined. Data were analyzed from wave two of the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (2004–2005). Associations between substance use disorders and IPV were tested using logistic regression models while controlling for important covariates and accounting for the complex survey design. Alcohol use disorders and cocaine use disorders were most strongly associated with IPV perpetration, while cannabis use disorders and opioid use disorders were most strongly associated with IPV victimization. A diagnosis of both an alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder decreased the likelihood of IPV perpetration compared to each individual substance use disorder. A diagnosis of both an alcohol use disorder and cocaine use disorder increased likelihood of reporting IPV perpetration compared to alcohol use disorders alone, but decreased likelihood of perpetration compared to a cocaine use disorder diagnosis alone. Overall, substance use disorders were consistently related to intimate partner violence after controlling for important covariates. These results provide further evidence for the important link between substance use disorders and IPV, and add to our knowledge of which specific substances may be related to relationship violence.

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The objective was to determine whether discrepancies between husbands' and wives' past year heavy drinking predicted decreased marital satisfaction over time. Participants were recruited at the time they applied for their marriage licenses (N= 634). Couples completed questionnaires about their alcohol use and marital satisfaction at the time of marriage, and again at their first and second anniversaries. Generalized estimating equation models were used to evaluate the association between discrepancies in husbands' and wives' heavy drinking in the year prior to marriage and marital satisfaction at the first wedding anniversary and the association between discrepancies in heavy alcohol use in the first year of marriage and marital satisfaction at the second wedding anniversary. In these prospective time-lagged analyses, discrepancies in husbands' and wives' heavy drinking predicted decreased marital satisfaction over time while controlling for heavy drinking. Over time, these couples may be at greater risk for decreased marital functioning that may lead to relationship dissolution. Keywords marital satisfaction; discrepancies; alcohol useMarital relationships are often comprised of individuals who share similar backgrounds, values, beliefs, and behaviors. Houts, Robins, and Huston (1996) examined similarity among newly married couples and found that individuals were more closely matched with respect to preferences for leisure activities and for division of household responsibilities than would be expected by chance. In a cross-national study of partner similarity, Price and Vandenberg (1980) found spousal similarity with respect to social variables such as food choices and leisure activities, but also with respect to personality related variables, such as trust, compulsiveness, and social conformity. Spousal similarity has also been demonstrated with respect to psychological disorders, including affective disorder (Galbaud du Fort, Bland, Newman, & Correspondence to: Gregory G. Homish. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/ccp/ NIH Public Access Boothroyd, 1998) and antisocial personality (Krueger, Moffitt, Caspi, Bleske, & Silva, 1998).Although it is not entirely clear whether this similarity is a result of an assortative mating process, a socialization or causation process, or some combination of both, compatibility theories argue that spouses who are quite dissimilar are at risk for marital problems (Kurdek, 1991). This conceptual approach suggests that "….large differences between partners o...

Among married couples, partners often have similar characteristics and behaviors. Among individuals who smoke cigarettes, it is not uncommon for them to have a partner who also smokes. In fact, having a partner who smokes can influence the spouse's initiation of smoking, or return to smoking after a previous quit attempt. Additionally, it is possible that a nonsmoking partner can influence his/her spouse to stop smoking. Participants for this research are from a community sample of couples in the United States. They were recruited at the time they applied for their marriage license and followed through to their second wedding anniversary. Logistic regression models, controlling for demographics, were utilized to determine if a partner's smoking status predicted smoking initiation or relapse over the early years of marriage. Overall, there was some support that a partner's smoking status did influence the other's smoking, although more support was found for spousal influence on relapse than cessation. There was more support for husband's influence compared to wife's influence, nonsmoking wives were more likely to resume smoking in the early years of their marriage if their partners were smokers. Wive's smoking, however, did not predict husband initiation of smoking. These findings suggest that during the transition into marriage, spouses do influence their partners' behaviors. In particular, women are more likely to resume smoking, or return to smoking if their partners smoke.

This study investigated the factors predictive of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the early years of marriage, focusing on the premarital drinking and relatively stable individual risk and protective factors that were present prior to marriage, and on social-interpersonal factors that may change or emerge over marriage. Newlywed couples were assessed at the time of marriage, and at the 1 st , 2 nd , and 4 th anniversaries with respect to frequency of heavy drinking and the extent of drinking problems, and a variety of factors that have been found to be predictive of adult alcohol problems. The results indicated that antisocial characteristics, family history of alcoholism, negative affect, and alcohol expectancies were related to heavy drinking and alcohol problems at the time of marriage. Changes after marriage were predicted by the drinking of one's partner and of one's peers and by alcohol expectancies for social/physical pleasure for both men and women. In addition, the quality of the marriage was longitudinally protective from the experience of alcohol problems for both men and women, although it was not related to changes in heavy drinking. KeywordsAlcohol Problems; Drinking Patterns; Marital Functioning; Partner Influence; Peer Influence Theoretical approaches to excessive drinking and alcohol problems have shifted from risk factor and person-environment interaction models to probabilistic-developmental models (e.g., Zucker, 2004) that incorporate person-environmental interactions into a broader developmental psychopathology approach (Windle & Davies, 1999). These models emphasize an array of biological, psychological, and social processes, sometimes acting in concert and sometimes in opposition to each other. This model argues that alcohol use and alcohol problems both affect and are affected by maturational processes and phase-specific transitional events. As Zucker, Fitzgerald, and Moses (1995) (p. 686). From this perspective, understanding the development of heavy drinking and alcohol problems is fostered by focusing on transitional events, particularly those that introduce, remove, or reorganize the biological, psychological, or social influences on drinking.One of the most important psychosocial transitional events is marriage, an event experienced by more than 70% of men and women by age 35 (Fields, 2003). Marriage carries with it a variety of tasks that can fundamentally alter an individual's view of self, as well as how the broader social network behaves toward the individual and the couple. At the psychological level, there is often a marked shift away from more individualistic values and toward more interdependent and socially positive values, consistent with the adoption of the new role of spouse. There is also often a major reorganization of the social network involving the reestablishment or redefinition of ties, both as individuals and as a couple, with each member's extended family and peer network (Boss, 1983;McGoldrick & Carter, 1982).In addition to these psycho-socia...