STUDIES LINK DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO SUBSTANCES, JOBLESSNESS

Men who abuse alcohol and drugs tend to batter their wives and girlfriends
more often than others, two studies show.

Other factors tied to domestic violence include unemployment and a breakup
of the couple, according to the researchers.

The studies were published in today's issue of The New England Journal of
Medicine.

One domestic-violence study at eight emergency departments nationwide
looked at 915 injured women, including 256 hurt by husbands or male
partners. The women were asked about the habits and lives of the men.

Another study analyzed the factors for both domestic and other violence
against women in west Philadelphia.

The first study found more than three times the risk of domestic violence
when husbands or male partners abuse alcohol or drugs, go in and out of
jobs, or break up with the women.

"This study offers the strongest evidence so far that links alcohol abuse
by the male partner with domestic violence," said Dr. Demetrios Kyriacou of
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, the lead researcher.

The Philadelphia study found a similar link between violence and cocaine.

Timothy O'Farrell, a psychologist at the Harvard Medical School who has
studied the link between alcohol and battering, said the latest studies
generally back up what was suspected and what other studies show.

But he said the studies help show the need for more anti-violence treatment
for alcoholics and alcoholism treatment for violent men.