DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TIED TO ALCOHOL

Men who abuse alcohol and drugs tend to batter
their wives and girlfriends more often than others, according to two
new studies in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

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

One domestic violence study at eight emergency departments around the
country 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
N. 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 two studies help show the need for more anti-violence
treatment for alcoholics and more alcoholism treatment for violent
men.