CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the Issues
2. Understanding Alcohol Abuse
3. Understanding Violence Against Women
4. Alcohol and Domestic Violence
5. Alcohol, Sexual Assault, and Rape
6. Prevention and Early Intervention
7. Screening and Assessment
8. Diagnosis and Treatment
9. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Fact Sheets
Videos
Resources

Silence Hurts
Alcohol Abuse and Violence Against Women

Risk Factors For Violence

Violence against a partner has two main purposes:

1. Keeping or making use of power, and
2. Keeping or making use of control.

Many risk factors can increase the chance of violence in a family. A family that has many risk factors has more of a chance of becoming violent than a family with one or two risk factors.

Some risk factors are:

• Past victim or witness of family abuse^6,7
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Stress outside the home (e.g., work, financial)
• Poverty or problems with money
• Loss (e.g., loss of a job, death, relationship)
• Family trouble
• The idea that all men have to act a certain way or believing that all women should stay home and not work
• History of abusive relationships
• Mental or physical problems in the family
• Isolation from others
• Pregnancy

Risk factors do not cause violence, and they are not excuses for violence.