Legal factors associated with change in alcohol use and partner violence among offenders

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social concern that may be exacerbated by high rates of alcohol dependence among perpetrators. Society has attempted to combat IPV through various legal interventions but the effects of specific legal factors on behavioral change and treatment compliance remain largely unexamined. The primary focus of the current study was to comprehensively evaluate the impact of various legal factors (i.e., judicial mandate, judicial monitoring, stage of change, and stake in conformity) on mandatory treatment compliance and behavioral change over a 12 week post-adjudication period among a high-risk sample of alcohol dependent IPV offenders (N = 60). Growth curve analyses revealed effects of judicial monitoring and stage of change such that participants reporting low perceived judicial monitoring and early stages of change reported higher initial levels and a more rapid reduction in IPV than those reporting high perceived judicial monitoring and late stages of change, who reported consistently low IPV. Although we found that legal factors were poor predictors of treatment compliance and alcohol use during treatment, the association between alcohol and IPV was moderated by the legal factors. Stake in conformity was negatively associated with IPV among low alcohol users and positively associated among high alcohol users whereas stage of change was negatively associated with IPV among high alcohol users. The current results suggest that pretreatment legal factors may represent an important consideration in reducing IPV among alcohol dependent offenders. Further research is required to determine the efficacy of legal factors in isolation of treatment as well as methods of manipulating these factors to optimally compliment a prescribed course of treatment.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Aggression and Victimization across Relationship Types Among Veterans Who Use Substances

“…We found higher rates of NPV involvement than IPV involvement; this is consistent with other research that has examined both domains of violence in other SUD treatment settings (Chermack et al, 2009). The rates of both IPV and NPV in this sample were somewhat lower than those found in community or justicereferred samples Crane et al 2014), likely due to the higher mean age (48 years) and lower number of married couples in the present sample. The common presence of IPV and NPV highlights the importance of comprehensive screening for violence involvement in VA treatment clinics.…”

"Ek het uiteindelik op straat beland; dis ʼn harde lewe": Uitdagings van kwesbare vroue wat alkohol of dwelms misbruik

“…Volgens die ekologiese perspektief (Bronfenbrenner 1979;Pardeck 2015) is daar ʼn konstante wisselwerking tussen ʼn persoon en haar omgewing. As die omgewing nie ondersteunend is nie en vyandig is, veroorsaak dit stres soos die volgende narratiewe aandui: (2016) toon aan dat probleme in die omgewing soos ʼn gebrek aan hulpbronne kan lei tot alkohol-of dwelmmisbruik wat op die makrovlak kwesbare vroue negatief beïnvloed (Crane, Schlauch, Hawes, Mandel & Easton 2014;Pardeck 2015;Straussner & Isralowitz 2013).…”

The Effects of a Father’s Alcohol Misuse on the Wellbeing of His Family: Views of Social Workers

“…It is worth noting that Fisher and Harrison (2013) describe this as co-dependent behaviour, where unhealthy patterns are developed in order to cover up for a father's alcohol misuse. The research (Crane, Schlauch, Hawes, Mandel & Easton, 2014;Klosterman & Chen, 2009) has also indicated that excessive drinking often leads to domestic violence. Although domestic violence can also occur when no drinking is involved, a large proportion of perpetrators are under the influence of alcohol at the time of the assault.…”