BALTIMORE, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A study of U.S. Army soldiers finds heavy drinking increases the risk of abuse to female partners, both when soldiers are drinking and when they are not.
Social Sectors Development Strategies Inc. studied all active-duty, male, enlisted Army spousal abusers identified in the Army's Central Registry who had also completed an Army Health Risk Appraisal Survey between the years of 1991 and 1998.
Their data were compared with that of 21,786 "controls" who were matched on gender, rank, marital status and had also completed a survey.
The results showed those classified as the heaviest drinkers (22 or more drinks per week) were 66 percent more likely to abuse their spouses than those classified as abstainers.
In addition, self-reported moderate (8 to 14 drinks per week) and heavy (15 to 21 drinks per week) drinkers were three times as likely to abuse their wives. Light drinkers (1 to 7 drinks per week) were twice as likely, as soldiers who report they typically consume less than one drink per week.
The study's results appear in this month's issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research,
