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Price of Alcohol, Wife Abuse, and Husband Abuse

NCJ Number
181099
Author(s)
Sara Markowitz
Date Published
1999
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the direct relationship between the price of alcohol, which determines consumption, and violence toward spouses.
Abstract
Data came from the 1985 cross section and the 1985-1987 panel of the National Family Violence Survey. The 1985 data are a nationally representative sample while the panel oversamples violent individuals. The study used dichotomous indicators of severe violence toward spouses. An increase in the pure price of alcohol, as measured by a weighted average of the price of alcohol from beer, wine and liquor, consistently served to reduce severe violence aimed at wives. By contrast, the propensity of an increase in the price of alcohol to lower violence toward husbands was mixed. When individual-level characteristics were not controlled for, the price was not a predictor of violence toward men. However, once the individual traits were controlled for, a negative relationship between the price and violence emerged. References, notes, tables