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Neighborhoods,
Drug Use & Violence
Principal
Investigator: Carol B. Cunradi, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Intimate
partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem
in the U.S. Although the precise etiologic role of substance
use has not been established, considerable empirical evidence
links alcohol and drug use on the part of the male, female,
or both with IPV occurrence and severity. Neighborhood contextual
factors, such as poverty and unemployment, also have been
associated with elevated risk of IPV. The research literature,
however, has not adequately addressed whether neighborhood
characteristics, such as poverty, high unemployment, and low
collective efficacy, mediate or moderate the relationships
between drugs, alcohol, and IPV such that these relations
are stronger for couples residing in neighborhoods characterized
by these factors. Additionally, few studies have assessed
the contribution of male and female drug use to IPV perpetration
and victimization among general household population samples.
This study will address these issues using data from two national
samples of married and cohabiting respondents in which information
was obtained on substance use, IPV, and neighborhood characteristics.
The proposed study will conduct a secondary analysis of data
from the National Study of Couples (NSC) and the National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). The NSC was the first
in-depth national study of the association between alcohol
and IPV among African-American, Hispanic, and white couples,
and contains Census-based information on the socioeconomic
characteristics of the couples’ neighborhoods. The NHSDA
annually obtains data on the prevalence and incidence of illicit
drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in the civilian population,
and contains information on neighborhood characteristics and
marital aggression. In addition to self-report data, the NHSDA
will link Census-based data, such as poverty and unemployment
levels, to individual records. Both the NSC and the NHSDA
provide an excellent opportunity to address a number of important
research gaps on the contribution of drug use to IPV risk
among couples in the general household population, and whether
neighborhood contextual factors mediate or moderate these
relationships. Findings of this study will help to inform
environmentally-based IPV prevention strategies.
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