The Event-Level Association Between Alcohol Use and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: A Systematic Narrative Review of the Literature

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration is a significant public health concern, with up to 90% of individuals in intimate relationships experiencing some form of physical, psychological, or sexual IPV from their partner throughout their lifetime. Over 30 years of research have concluded that alcohol use results in greater risk for IPV perpetration. Despite this known association, only recently has alcohol use been examined as a proximal predictor of IPV perpetration in daily diary-type studies. The present study aimed to provide a systematic narrative review of current research on the event-level association between alcohol use and psychological, physical, and sexual IPV perpetration. Relevant studies were obtained by searching PsycInfo, PubMed, and CINAHL. Full-text peer-reviewed studies published in English that quantitatively assessed the event-level association between alcohol use and physical, psychological, and/or sexual IPV perpetration ( N = 24) were retained. Results provide support for the event-level association between alcohol use and IPV perpetration across college student, couple, community, clinical, and adjudicated samples. Future research is needed to distinguish whether certain patterns of alcohol use, quantity, or level of intoxication are associated with greater IPV risk. Similarly, future studies should aim to examine psychological, physical, and sexual IPV perpetration separately, and to identify how other known risk factors may interact with alcohol use to predict event-level IPV perpetration. These findings highlight the usefulness of clinical intervention efforts that provide skills to target urges to drink or to aggress in the moment when they are needed, with the ultimate goal of reducing alcohol-related IPV perpetration.