Associations of Women's Substance Dependency Symptoms with Intimate Partner Violence

Associations of women’s substance use problems (symptoms of dependence for different psychoactive substances) and their experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV) were examined in a community sample of 146 women who, along with their male partners from at-risk backgrounds, had participated in an ongoing longitudinal study of couples. Findings indicated that women with a lifetime history of dependence symptoms on hard drugs (but not alcohol, marijuana, or sedatives) also had a history of perpetrating IPV. However, only women who had ever experienced symptoms of cocaine dependence were more likely to have been a victim of IPV by their long-term male partners. The study also found that psychological IPV was more stable across time than physical IPV but that both types of IPV were predicted equally by substance dependence symptoms for perpetration and victimization. Findings are compared with those from a prior study of the men’s substance dependence symptoms and IPV perpetration, which also found consistent associations between dependence on hard drugs (but not alcohol alone) and perpetration of IPV.