CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Ambivalent Sexism, Alcohol Use, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Abstract

Research on risk factors for men's perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) has shown a high correlation with problem alcohol use. Additional studies, however, indicate that the alcohol-IPV link is neither simple nor necessarily direct and that a range of factors may moderate this relationship. Using a national, community-based sample of 255 men, the present study examined the moderating effects of ambivalent sexism (i.e., hostile and benevolent sexism) on the relationship between alcohol use and IPV perpetration. The findings show that both greater alcohol consumption and high hostile sexism are positively associated with IPV perpetration, and that hostile sexism moderates the alcohol-IPV relationship for perpetration of physical IPV, but not for psychological IPV. Moreover, high levels of alcohol consumption have a greater impact on physical IPV perpetration for men low in hostile sexism than for men high in hostile sexism, lending support to the multiple threshold model of the alcohol-IPV link. Implications of the findings for prevention, intervention, and future research are discussed.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-9-2015

Notes/Citation Information

To be published in Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

© The Author(s) 2015

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515604412

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