Aggression involving alcohol

relationship to drinking patterns and social context

Wells, Samantha
Graham, Kathryn

Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, London, Ontario, Canada

Correspondence to: Samantha Wells, Social, Prevention and Health Policy, Research Department, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 100 Collip Circle, Suite 200, London, Ontario N6G 4X8, Canada. Tel: + 1 519 858 5000, Fax: + 1 519 858 5199. E-mail: [email protected]

Submitted 21 September 2001; initial review completed 7 January 2002; final version accepted 29 April 2002

Addiction 98(1):p 33-42, January 2003.

Aims

The present study examines the relationships between: (1) alcohol involvement/perceived intoxication level of participants and aggression severity; (2) respondent drinking patterns and involvement in alcohol-related aggression; and (3) social context and alcohol-related aggression.

Design

Random digit dialing (RDD) with computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) was used to obtain a random sample of Ontario adults aged 18–60 (response rate of 67%).

Participants

Respondents who reported that they had been involved personally in physical aggression in the past 12 months were the focus of the present study.

Measurements

Questions were asked regarding the most recent incident of physical aggression, including whether the respondent and opponent drank alcohol prior to aggression, perceived intoxication levels at the time, number of participants, relationship to opponent, social context of aggression, time of day and day of week. Three items were used to assess aggression severity: injury to respondent, use of threats by respondent or opponent and police involvement.

Findings

(1) Injury to respondent and threats by respondent were not associated with alcohol involvement per se, but were significantly related to perceived level of alcohol intoxication; (2) drinking pattern of respondent was significantly associated with alcohol-related aggression but unrelated to aggression that did not involve alcohol; and (3) a number of contextual factors (e.g. gender, number of participants, time of day) were found to be associated with alcohol involvement in aggression.

Conclusions

The results suggest that both drinking pattern and contextual factors are important in distinguishing between alcohol-related aggression and non-alcohol-related aggression. As well, alcohol intoxication may be an important predictor of aggression severity.