BOSTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier study found heavy drinking versus being an alcoholic can predict spouse abuse differently ways among white, Hispanic and African-American men.
More than 7,900 of the soldiers were identified as perpetrators in spouse-abuse incidents that had been substantiated and recorded in a U.S. Army registry. The researcher linked that information with surveys completed by the soldiers -- well before the spouse abuse event -- which provide information on drinking and other behaviors.
How reliably a factor like being a heavy drinker -- defined as 14 or more drinks a week -- can predict future violence depends on the race/ethnicity of the soldier, said lead researcher Nicole Bell, of Social Sectors Development Strategies Inc., a research firm in Boston.
Heavy drinking predicts spouse abuse for white men, Hispanic and African-American men -- though the odds are greatest for whites followed by Hispanics, the study found.
However, once demographic factors related to drinking, such as age and occupational grade, are considered, heavy drinking no longer seems to be a predictor of spouse abuse for African-Americans, although it remained one for whites and Hispanics.
For African-American men, problem drinking, which involves trouble with the law or workplace difficulties, seems to be a more important predictor of spouse abuse than heavy drinking, according to the study in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
