Pathways to romantic relational aggression through adolescent peer aggression and heavy episodic drinking.

Adolescent peer aggression is a well-established correlate of romantic relational aggression; however, the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Heavy episodic drinking (or "binge" alcohol use) was examined as both a prior and concurrent mediator of this link in a sample of 282 12-18 year old interviewed four times over 6 years. Path analyses indicated that early peer relational and physical aggression each uniquely predicted later romantic relational aggression. Concurrent heavy episodic drinking fully mediated this effect for peer physical aggression only. These findings highlight two important mechanisms by which peer aggression may increase the risk of later romantic relational aggression: a direct pathway from peer relational aggression to romantic relational aggression and an indirect pathway through peer physical aggression and concurrent heavy episodic drinking. Prevention programs targeting romantic relational aggression in adolescence and young adulthood may benefit from interventions that target multiple domains of risky behavior, including the heavy concurrent use of alcohol. Aggr. Behav. 42:563-576, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Harmful alcohol use as a predictor of intimate partner violence during the transition to parenthood: interdependent and interactive effects.

Harmful alcohol use is known to increase the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), however very little is known about the role of alcohol use during the transition to parenthood. The current study was designed to examine harmful alcohol use as a dyadic and interactive time-varying risk factor for psychological and physical IPV across the transition to parenthood using a sample of 98 couples assessed prenatally and again at one and two years postpartum. Longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models demonstrated that changes in harmful alcohol use during the transition to parenthood were significantly related to changes in psychological IPV for both men and women and with physical IPV for men only, whereas harmful alcohol use was actually negatively related to variations in women's physical IPV. Partners' harmful use of alcohol during the transition to parenthood also explained additional variance in psychological IPV for men and physical IPV for women over time. Time-varying interactions between actors' and partners' harmful alcohol use were additionally predictive of greater psychological IPV for women and greater physical IPV for both men and women. Contrary to some past research, time-varying discrepancies in levels of harmful alcohol use between men and women were related to a lower risk of psychological IPV for women and physical IPV for both genders. Findings from this study indicate that harmful alcohol use by both men and women combines in a dyadic and interactive manner to place couples at risk for IPV during the transition to parenthood. Prenatal interventions may benefit from strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by both men and women during the prenatal and postpartum periods.

Social support as a moderator for alcohol-related partner aggression during the transition to parenthood.

Alcohol-related partner aggression is a pervasive social problem throughout various life stages, including the transition to parenthood. Previous research shows that alcohol use is associated with partner aggression perpetration for both men and women; however, not all individuals who consume alcohol act aggressively. In this study, the moderating effects of general social support and partner-specific support on the association between prepregnancy alcohol use and recent partner physical aggression are investigated using a community sample of 98 pregnant couples. For men, high levels of general appraisal social support (i.e., someone to talk to about one's problems) increases the strength of the association between alcohol use and aggression perpetration, whereas partner-specific emotional support serves as a buffer. For women, general social support is not a significant moderator, but high levels of partner-specific instrumental support strengthens the association between alcohol use and aggression. These results can be applied to prevention and treatment programs for alcohol-related partner aggression.