The Influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Among Black Men: The Moderating Role of Alcohol Use

Abstract

This study examined the moderating role of alcohol use on the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration among Black men in the United States. We conducted bivariate and logistic regression analyses using data from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Bivariate results revealed significant relationships between eight of the 10 ACE factors physical neglect; emotional, physical and sexual abuse; witnessing a mother being abused; and having a parent guardian with an alcohol and drug problem and who was incarcerated and IPV perpetration. Similarly, examination of the relationship between ACEs and alcohol use in adulthood also revealed significant associations, with the exception of exposure to emotional neglect, emotional and sexual abuse, and witnessing a mother being abused. Findings from the logistic regression models revealed that alcohol use significantly moderated the relationship between ACEs and IPV perpetration, but only for men exposed to 1, 2, and ≥4 adversities in childhood. However, alcohol use appeared to exacerbate the relationship between ACEs and IPV perpetration for men without childhood adversity. Implications for practice, policy, and areas for further research are discussed.

Epidemiology of intimate partner violence perpetration and victimisation in a representative sample

“…In the United Nations Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific, including 3106 women, sexual, physical and emotional abuse was reported more frequently by women with lifetime experience of all forms of IPV (Jewkes et al ., 2017 ). Moreover, the association between ACEs and IPV perpetration is well known from literature (Mair et al ., 2012 ; Lee et al ., 2022 ). Among the generally strong associations, our data suggest a particularly strong connection between child maltreatment experience and physical IPV perpetration.…”

Examining the Role of National Context: Do Country Conditions During Childhood Impact Perpetration of Dating Violence in Emerging Adulthood?

“…Respondents' scores on perpetration were coded into dichotomous variables, where 1 represented perpetrating at least one form of DV and 0 indicated never perpetrating DV over the length of the relationship. Given the aim of this study to examine influence on participants likelihood to perpetrate violence (compared to those who report neither victimization nor perpetration of IPV), logistic regression with a dichotomous outcome was selected oppose to examining the outcome via a continuous IPV variable (exploring severity or frequency), a practice consistent with the most recent methods (Lee et al, 2021). Reliability analysis produced an alpha of .79 for the physical violence perpetration scale (Straus, 2010).…”

Parental Incarceration in Childhood and Adult Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Race/Ethnicity and Sex Differences

“…Roberts and colleagues (2011) found that a significant association between HMI and IPV for both males and females in bivariate analyses became non-significant in adjusted models. Lee and colleagues (2022) did not include a multivariate model that specifically assessed the association between HMI and later IPV in their analyses, but found a significant, though counterintuitive association between the measures in bivariate analyses. Nikulina and colleagues (2021) tested a multivariate model and found a significant association between HMI and perpetration of physical aggression.…”