The present paper describes promising research directions that emerged from a recent international conference on intoxication and aggression and from the scientific literature generally. In this overview, intoxicated aggression is seen as arising from an interactional process involving multiple contributing factors or causes. This model helps to define research directions that can further understanding and prevention. First, the societal/cultural framing of intoxication and aggression exerts a powerful influence on drinking behaviour and needs to be better understood. Another important area for research is the moderating role on alcohol-related aggression of personal factors such as predisposition to aggression and individual differences in expectations about alcohol and aggression. Research on the role of basic pharmacological effects of alcohol in increasing the likelihood of aggressive behaviour is also a critical aspect of understanding intoxicated aggression. Drinking contexts and environments play a considerable role in the relationship between intoxication and aggressive behaviour and need to be better understood. Another critical direction for future research is the study of intoxicated aggression as a process involving the interaction of the person, the situation and the effects of alcohol in natural and experimental settings. Finally, the paper highlights promising directions for research on interventions to prevent intoxicated aggression and violence.

The childhood victimization of sex offenders was investigated. The victimization experiences were recorded from a treatment milieu for sex offenders. Two hundred and eighty-six offenders were involved in the study. Comparisons were done between groups to determine relationships between alienation, dissociation, social desirability, and victimization experiences. Seventy percent of the sample admitted to being sexually abused as a child, 50% admitted to physical abuse. Offenders who were both sexually and physically abused reported feeling more alienated than other offenders. Offenders who were physically abused by both parents reported higher levels of dissociation and offenders who reported no abuse also were highest in social desirability. The importance of working with the offenders' childhood victimization experience is discussed.

To help understand and provide treatment programs suited to the needs of sex offenders more study is needed with respect to their personality characteristics. Three factors were examined: dissociation, locus of control, and alienation. Three groups of men were compared: 42 sex offenders, 26 nonsex offenders, and 42 men from a community control group. The MMPI subscales for alienation and the K scale, Bernstein and Putnam's dissociation scale, and Ried and Ware's multidimensional locus of control measure were combined and administered to the three groups. The sex offenders were found to be more dissociated than the other two groups, more external on the overall measure of locus of control and more external than the community group on the subscale of self-control. The sex offenders were found to be more alienated than the other two groups. Implications for treatment and further research are discussed.

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