Alcohol Use and Violence Among Young Adults

KENNETH E. LEONARD, PH.D., is research professor of psychiatry, University at Buffalo, School of Medicine, and senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York. age gr Approximately 40 percent of people experiencing violence are young adults ages 18 to 30; this translates into a greater risk for violence in this oup than in any other segment of the population (Perkins 1997). (Only 50 percent of these violent crimes are reported to the police, however [see Hart and Rennison 2003].) Leonard and colleagues (2002) 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 (Leonard et al. 2002), 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 (Leonard et al. 2002). Men were more likely to be the target of severe violence in bars: 30 percent of the most severe inci­ dents 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 (Bushman 1997). 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.