Young Adults: Alcohol Use and Violence

by National Institute of Health

Approximately 40 percent of people experiencing violence are young adults ages 18 to 30; this translates into a greater risk for violence in this age group than in any other segment of the population. Only 50 percent of these violent crimes are reported to the police, however Leonard and colleagues found that 44 percent of men ages 18 to 30 in a community sample reported having experienced physical aggression, either as the target or initiator of aggression, in the past year. Among women of this age in the same sample, 28 percent reported experiencing some form of physical aggression in the past year. In a separate sample of college students, 33 percent of males and 22 percent of females reported experiencing physical aggression in the past year.

Two locations - bars and homes - stood out as the most likely settings for violence. Men were more likely to be the target of severe violence in bars: 30 percent of the most severe incidents involving men as victims, from both the general population and college samples, occurred in or around a bar. For women, bars were less frequently the scene of severe violent victimization: 22 percent of the most severe episodes reported by women in the general population sample and 23 percent of the most severe episodes reported by women in the college sample occurred in or around a bar. Women were more likely to be targets of severe violence at home (50 percent of the most severe episodes reported by women in the community sample and 63 percent of the most severe episodes reported by women in the college sample occurred in the home). Fewer men reported experiencing their most severe episode of violence at home (16 percent of the most severe episodes reported by men in the community sample and 31 percent of those reported by men in the college sample occurred in the home).

Laboratory research demonstrates that intoxicated people are more aggressive than sober people. Thus, the link between drinking in bars or at home and incidents of aggression is an important area of research. This sidebar examines the role that alcohol may play in violence at these locations

Violence in Bars

The Bar Violence Study, conducted in Buffalo, New York, was designed to systematically examine the putative causes of bar violence, both direct and indirect. These causes included individual differences among people who frequent bars, characteristics of bars at which violence occurs, and the situations preceding the violent incidents. Participants, who were between the ages of 18 and 30, included 194 men and 106 women who reported experiencing bar violence, 121 men and 106 women who had observed but did not experience violence, and 54 men and 60 women who frequented bars but had neither seen nor experienced violence in a bar. After administering a battery of individual difference and alcohol use tests to the participants, researchers interviewed them about the characteristics of their usual bars. If a subject reported experiencing violence, he or she was asked about the characteristics of the bar in which the violence had occurred and about the violent incident itself.

An examination of the violent incidents suggested that although drinking played a role, it did not appear to be a direct cause of the violence. Participants who initiated or were the victims of a violent event had not consumed more alcohol at the time of the event than had participants reporting only threatening events that did not result in violence. Alcohol consumption was related to the risk of injury, however. Among men who became involved in a violent bar event, the more drinks they had consumed, the more severe the injury to themselves as well as to the other person involved; the more highly intoxicated the other person involved in the violence was reported to be, the less severe the injury that the men reported experiencing themselves. This finding supports the hypothesis that alcohol is a facilitator rather than an instigator of aggressive behavior. It also is consistent with the view that the psychopharmacological effects of intoxication on decisionmaking may make a bad situation worse.

Not everyone who drinks at a bar experiences violence, and those who do become involved in violence often have unique personality characteristics and alcohol usage patterns. For example, men who had committed or been the target of a violent act in a bar scored higher on measures of anger-proneness and impulsiveness than did men who had not experienced bar violence (although they might have observed it). Men who had experienced violence also scored lower on measures of personality agreeableness. Men who had been involved in bar violence reported drinking more than men who had not been involved; they also reported having more alcohol problems than nonviolent men.

The key difference between women's and men's experience in bars lies in the types of aggression they encounter. Parks found that approximately one-third of the aggression experienced by women in bars was sexual in nature, involving behaviors ranging from inappropriate comments to nonconsensual physical contact.

Women who experienced violence in bars were found to consume more alcohol in general and score higher in anger-proneness than women who did not. This study also found that women who experienced severe violence in a bar had consumed more alcohol at the bar and were more likely to go to the bar alone or leave alone or with a stranger.

Bars' social and environmental characteristics also were examined in the Bar Violence Study. The clientele of violent bars tended to be younger and more likely to score higher on measures of anger and impulsiveness. They also were heavier drinkers, more likely to have alcohol problems, and more likely to believe that alcohol increases aggression. In addition, participants in the study were more likely to report that violent bars were smokier, higher in temperature, dirtier, darker, more crowded, more likely to have competitive games, and more likely to employ bouncers and male employees. As Buddie and Parks found in their research on women's violent experiences in bars, bars where violence occurred tended to be more permissive of clients' displays of antinormative behavior, including sexual behavior and illegal activities. Based on regression analyses in which the effects of clientele factors were not significant predictors of bar status (violent or not) when bar characteristics were entered into the equation, the characteristics of the bars rather than the characteristics of the clientele seem to be the stronger determinant of whether violence occurred or not. However, people with certain characteristics may be attracted to certain types of bars, or the characteristics of the bars may be driven by their type of clientele - the exact relationship remains unclear.

Nevertheless, addressing the distinctive social and physical characteristics of violent bars may help reduce bar violence. The Safer Bars Program attempted to decrease violence by training bar staff in numerous areas that could impact the potential for violence, such as serving practices and ways to defuse conflict situations, and by helping them to recognize physical and situational characteristics of bars that might promote or result in violence. Following training of employees at 18 violent bars, independent observations demonstrated that these bars had fewer instances of severe aggression by patrons and fewer instances of severe violence by the staff than control bars with similar characteristics. Although it is likely some people will act aggressively regardless of what precautions are taken, these findings indicate that modifying the social and physical atmosphere in a bar can help to reduce the likelihood of violence.

About the Author

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