Kenneth E. Leonard

Prospective prediction of husband marital aggression within newlywed couples

This study prospectively examined a social interactional model of husband marital aggression. Young couples were assessed at the time of their 1st marriage with respect to marital conflict styles, alcohol consumption, hostility, gender identity, perceived power inequity, and history of family violence. Couples were reassessed at their 1-year anniversary, and information concerning marital aggression was collected. Most of the constructs were prospectively related to husband aggression, but these relationships were largely mediated through marital conflict styles and husband alcohol consumption, which in turn were influenced by husbands hostility, gender identity, and perceived power inequity.

Nonstranger sexual aggression: A discriminant analysis of the psychological characteristics of undetected offenders

Rape is an underreported and underconvicted crime. Therefore, many highly sexually aggressive men are missed by research employing judicial identification for sample selection. The present study examined the psychological characteristics of three types of undetected sexually aggressive men who had assaulted female acquaintances. Subjects were selected on the basis of their responses to the Sexual Experiences Survey and completed questionnaires that reflected psychological variables relevant to two major theoretical models of rape, the psychopathology model and the social control/social conflict model. Data were analyzed via discriminant analysis. The groups were significantly discriminated by seven variables, including six rape-supportive attitudes. The findings support a social control/social conflict explanation of nonstranger sexual aggression.

Alcohol and Marital Aggression in a National Sample of Young Men

This study examined the relationship between alcohol and individual difference factors on one hand and marital aggression on the other hand. Subjects were 320 married and cohabiting men who participated in a nationally representative study of alcohol consumption in young men. Subjects completed scales assessing hostility, self-consciousness, and marital satisfaction, and the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS). They also answered two questions concerning marital aggression: whether they had ever hit their spouse while drinking or hit their spouse while sober. The results indicated that alcohol use was strongly related to marital aggression. Furthermore, scores on the ADS interacted with hostility and marital satisfaction to predict marital aggression, with ADS scores related to marital aggression among men who scored high on hostility or low on marital satisfaction.

Husbands' and Wives' Marital Adjustment, Verbal Aggression, and Physical Aggression as Longitudinal Predictors of Physical Aggression in Early Marriage.

Marital adjustment, verbal aggression, and physical aggression have long been associated in the marital literature, but the nature of their associations remains unclear. In this study, the authors examined these 3 constructs as risk factors for physical aggression during the first 2 years of marriage in 634 couples recruited as they applied for marriage licenses. Couples completed assessments at the time of marriage and at their 1st and 2nd anniversaries. Results of path analyses suggest that prior verbal aggression and physical aggression by both partners are important longitudinal predictors of physical aggression but do not support the role of marital adjustment as a unique predictor of subsequent physical aggression. Contrary to prior research, results also failed to support physical aggression as a unique predictor of marital adjustment.

The effect of the Safer Bars programme on physical aggression in bars: results of a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Safer Bars, an intervention to reduce aggression in bars. A total of 734 pre - post-intervention observations were conducted by trained observers on Friday and Saturday nights between midnight and 2 a.m. in 18 large capacity ( > 300) Toronto bars and clubs assigned randomly to receive the intervention (69% participation rate of the 26 assigned) and 12 control bars. As part of the intervention, owners/managers completed the risk assessment workbook to identify ways of reducing environmental risks, and 373 staff and owners/managers (84% participation rate) attended a 3-hour training session focused on preventing escalation of aggression, working as a team and resolving problem situations safely. The main outcome measures were rates of severe aggression (e.g. punching, kicking) and moderate physical aggression (e.g. shoving, grappling). Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) comparing pre - post aggression for intervention versus control bars indicated a significant effect of the intervention in reducing severe and moderate aggression. This effect was moderated by turnover of managers and door/security staff with higher post-intervention aggression associated with higher turnover in the intervention bars. The findings indicate the potential for a stand-alone relatively brief intervention to reduce severe and moderate physical aggression in bars.

Domestic violence and alcohol: what is known and what do we need to know to encourage environmental interventions?

This paper reviews evidence regarding alcohol and domestic violence, including cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, experimental studies of aggression and marital conflict, event-based research, and intervention studies with alcoholics. Based on this review, it is concluded that alcohol is a contributing cause in domestic violence, but neither a necessary nor sufficient cause. In addition, the evidence suggests that intoxication in the perpetrator of violence does not appear to excuse his aggression, but that intoxication in the victim is often viewed as an excuse for the perpetrators behavior. Based on this review, several tentative policy implications are discussed. In general, policies that reduce drinking, aggressive tendencies and conflict should have beneficial effects. Alcohol intervention/prevention should focus on men in the early stages of aggressive behavior and should include goals of reduced intoxication and management of anger/conflict. For more severe populations, alcohol interventions might have a beneficial impact, but they must be included as additional requirements in the overall criminal justice response, not as an alternative for other requirements. Finally, it is critical that research regarding alcohol and domestic violence move beyond simple studies of association and begin to frame these questions with an eye toward policy implications.

The effects of alcohol on the marital interactions of aggressive and nonaggressive husbands and their wives

This study examined the marital interactions of 60 maritally aggressive and 75 nonaggressive men and their wives under a baseline condition, and then after the husband had received no alcohol, a placebo, or alcohol. These sessions were videotaped and coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System by coders who were unaware of group status and specific condition. Aggressive couples exhibited more negative behavior and higher levels of negative reciprocity in the baseline interaction than did nonaggressive couples. The administration of alcohol led husbands, but not wives, to increase their problem-solving attempts. Alcohol, but not the placebo, led to increased negativity of both husbands and wives.

The Occurrence of Male-to-Female Intimate Partner Violence on Days of Men's Drinking: The Moderating Effects of Antisocial Personality Disorder.

In this study, the moderating effects of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on the day-to-day relationship between male partner alcohol consumption and male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) for men entering a domestic violence treatment program (n=170) or an alcoholism treatment program (n=169) were examined. For both samples, alcohol consumption was associated with an increased likelihood of nonsevere IPV among men without a diagnosis of ASPD but not among men with ASPD (who tended to engage in nonsevere IPV whether they did or did not drink). Drinking was more strongly associated with a likelihood of severe IPV among men with ASPD compared with those without ASPD who also drank. These results provide partial support for a multiple threshold model of intoxication and aggression.

Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Family Violence

That excessive alcohol use may be related to family violence is by no means a new idea. William Hogarth’ s drawing of life in “Gin Alley” presents a striking visual image of the ills of alcohol: an intoxicated woman who neglectfully allows her small infant to fall from her arms. Temperance tracts in the 1830s and 1840s promulgated the view that alcohol, even in somewhat moderate doses, resulted in neglect of the basic needs of the family. Expenditures of family resources on alcohol rather than food and clothing and unusually cruel violence directed at children and spouse were repeatedly discussed. In 1832, for example, the Fifth Report of the American Temperance Society devoted several pages to instances where a father, while intoxicated, had murdered his wife or children: In the State of New York alone, in the course of a few weeks, not less than four men, under the influence of ardent spirits, murdered their wives, and with their own hands made their children orphans.... One of these men put to death not only his wife, but six of his children. (American Temperance Society Documents, 1972)

Does Alcohol Make a Difference? Within-participants Comparison of Incidents of Partner Violence

Episodes of husband-to-wife violence in which the husband consumed alcohol were compared with episodes of husband-to-wife violence, reported by the same individuals, in which the husband was not drinking. Among this community sample of newly-weds, wife reports, but not husband reports, indicated that violent episodes in which the husband was drinking included more acts of violence and were more likely to involve severe violence. Both wife and husband reports indicated that wives were more likely to be physically aggressive in husband drinking episodes compared to sober episodes. However, whereas wives reported that their aggressive behavior was a response to husband aggression, husbands reported that wives were more likely to initiate violence in these episodes. Violent episodes that include alcohol may be more severe and more mutually violent than sober episodes. Discrepancies between husband and wife reports may reflect differences in recall or self-serving biases.