PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K E Leonard

Publications and source records attributed to K E Leonard.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Alcohol's role in domestic violence: a contributing cause or an excuse?

OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews evidence regarding the deviance disavowal approach to alcohol-related violence. It focuses on whether alcohol intoxication is used to excuse domestic violence, and whether this can explain alcohol/violence association. METHOD: Four hypotheses derived from the deviance disavowal approach were identified, including (i) people accept alcohol as a cause of violence; (ii) people attribute less blame and punishment to intoxicated aggressors than to sober aggressors; (iii) the belief that alcohol causes or excuses violence should be associated with and predict the occurrence of alcohol-related domestic violence; and (iv) the administration of a placebo should increase aggressive behaviour. RESULTS: The review suggested that some people do accept alcohol as a cause of violence, but that alcohol does not appear to mitigate blame, and this belief is not longitudinally predictive of violence. CONCLUSION: The evidence for a deviance disavowal model of alcohol and domestic violence appears quite weak.

Aggression↗
PubMed2001

Discrepant substance use and marital functioning in newlywed couples.

The configuration of partners' drinking patterns may be most critical to marital functioning. Implications of discrepant husband and wife smoking, drinking, and drug use for relationship quality at the transition to marriage were examined. Participants were 642 couples entering into their 1st marriage. Separate, self-administered questionnaires were completed at home by each partner. Both husbands and wives in couples in which only 1 partner drank heavily or used drugs reported significantly lower marital quality than other spouses. Husband Use x Wife Use interactions were not significant for cigarette use, alcohol use, or regular drinking. Discrepancies in more deviant substance use behaviors may be most relevant to marital functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Family interactions of alcoholics as related to alcoholism type and drinking condition.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported that the marital interactions of antisocial and aggressive, versus nonantisocial and nonaggressive, alcoholics exhibit higher rates of aversive-defensive communications and higher levels of negative reciprocity. To extend these findings, we examined the effect of alcoholism type (high- versus low-antisocial alcoholics: HAS, LAS) and drinking condition on family communication patterns. METHODS: Marital and parent-child dyads from 100 alcoholic families were videotaped while they discussed personally relevant issues during drinking and no-drinking sessions (no children were offered any alcohol). All interactions were coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System, and the data were assessed for differences in rate of positive, negative, and problem-solving behaviors, as well as sequential structures. RESULTS: HAS couples were more negative during the drink versus no-drink condition, whereas drinking did not affect negativity for LAS couples. In addition, the negative communications of HAS versus LAS alcoholics were more likely to increase spouse negativity during the drink versus no-drink condition. Group differences for parent-child interactions were few. CONCLUSIONS: The nature of family interactions was related to both alcoholism type and alcohol consumption, and the marital interactions of alcoholism types could be differentiated on the basis of the frequency and sequential structure of negative exchanges. It is most important to note that it is the interactions of the HAS alcoholic that undergo the most change as a function of drinking condition, with little support for the "adaptive consequences" hypothesis that alcohol consumption leads to more effective problem-solving for couples in which the alcoholic exhibits fewer antisocial and more internalizing characteristics. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

The impact of husband physical aggression and alcohol use on marital functioning: does alcohol "excuse" the violence?

Alcohol has been posited to serve as an "excuse" for deviant behavior, including domestic violence. A recent study suggested that wives hold husbands less responsible for their aggressive behavior when husbands are problem drinkers. To replicate and extend this study, the independent and interactive effects of husband physical aggression and husband alcohol use on wives' marital satisfaction and thoughts of divorce were examined among newlywed couples (n = 387). Husband physical aggression had a significant negative effect on marital satisfaction and a significant positive effect on divorce ideation regardless of the measure of husband alcohol use employed. Alcohol dependence had a negative effect on satisfaction; however, in no case was there an interaction between alcohol and aggression. Results fail to replicate an earlier study supporting an excuse function of alcohol and suggest that alcohol does not mitigate the negative effects of domestic violence on marital functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Paternal alcoholism and toddler noncompliance.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effect of fathers' alcoholism and associated risk factors on toddler compliance with parental directives at 18 and 24 months of age. METHODS: Participants were 215 families with 12-month-old children, recruited through birth records, who completed assessments of parental substance use, family functioning, and parent-child interactions at 12, 18, and 24 months of child age. Of these families, 96 were in the control group, 89 families were in the father-alcoholic-only group, and 30 families were in the group with two alcohol-problem parents. Child compliance with parents during cleanup situations after free play was measured at 18 and 24 months. The focus of this paper is on four measures of compliance: committed compliance, passive noncompliance, overt resistance, and defiance. RESULTS: Sons of alcohol-problem parents exhibited higher rates of noncompliance compared with sons of nonalcoholic parents. Sons in the two-alcohol-problem parent group seemed to be following a trajectory toward increasing rates of noncompliance. Daughters in the two-alcohol-problem parent group followed an opposite pattern. Other risk factors associated with parental alcohol problems also predicted compliance, but in unexpected ways. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that early risk for behavioral undercontrol is present in the toddler period among sons of alcoholic fathers, but not among daughters.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2000

Paternal alcoholism, parental psychopathology, and aggravation with infants.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of paternal alcohol problems, antisocial behavior, and depression in predicting parental attitudes toward their 12-month-old infants. Families were recruited from birth records and the final sample consisted of 216 families, 101 in the control group and 115 families with alcoholic fathers (92 with light drinking partners and 23 with heavy drinking partners). Results indicated that fathers' alcoholism was associated with higher paternal aggravation with the infant. Further, fathers' depression mediated the relationship between fathers' current alcohol problems and aggravation. Fathers' alcoholism was indirectly associated with maternal aggravation and warmth through the relationship with maternal antisocial behavior and depression. Results suggest that at least during early infancy, parental psychopathology associated with fathers' alcohol problems may play a more important role in predicting parental attitudes toward their infants than alcoholism per se. Results are further discussed in terms of their implications for parenting and later development among infants of alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Peer networks among heavy, regular and infrequent drinkers prior to marriage.

OBJECTIVE: Research has consistently demonstrated that, among adolescents, the characteristics of one's peers are important predictors of substance abuse. The impact of the peer network on adult drinking, however, has received considerably less attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine social network characteristics that are associated with heavy drinking in adulthood prior to marriage. METHOD: Couples were recruited at the time of their first marriage. Husbands and wives were each given identical questionnaire packets to complete at home, independently, as well as a postage-paid envelope for packet return. A broad range of constructs was assessed; included were personality characteristics, relationship functioning, drinking behavior and social network characteristics. Complete data were obtained from 471 husbands and 471 wives. RESULTS: The social networks of heavy-drinking men, compared to men drinking regularly or infrequently, were younger, more likely to be male and unmarried and consisted of friends rather than family or others. For both men and women, "drinking buddies" accounted for nearly 75% of the heavy drinkers' peer networks. The overall ratings of support and conflict created by peers did not differ according to drinking group, for either men or women. CONCLUSIONS: Prior to marriage, the social networks of heavy drinkers differ considerably from the networks of regular or infrequent drinkers with regard to the drinking patterns of their peers. An important finding was that heavy drinkers appear to experience a similar level of emotional, financial and practical support from their peer network compared to regular or infrequent drinkers.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Home interactions of high and low antisocial male alcoholics and their families.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the naturalistic interactions of two alcoholism subgroups during home dinnertime conversations. METHOD: Dinnertime conversations of 96 alcoholic and 47 control families were audiotaped and subsequently assessed via a multicomponent coding system involving trained raters who were blind to psychiatric status of participating families. To examine potentially important alcoholism types, two subgroups were formed on the basis of the male alcoholic's level of antisociality. RESULTS: Across all groups, mothers' rate of communication to children was greater than fathers' to children for all communication variables; similarly, children's rate of communication to mothers exceeded their rate to fathers across all communication variables. Most interesting, however, was the finding that families of alcoholics reflecting higher levels of antisociality expressed lower levels of positivity, disagreement and instrumentality than did families of alcoholics who exhibited lower levels of antisociality. CONCLUSIONS: Although expectations regarding generational differences across groups were confirmed, findings regarding the two alcoholism subgroups were opposite to expectations; that is, we had hypothesized that high antisocial alcoholics and their families would exhibit more overtly disruptive behavior than low antisocial alcoholics and their families. The interpretation and implication of these findings were discussed in terms of the importance and impact of the observational setting: in particular, that the home setting may allow for certain family coping strategies (e.g., disengagement) more so than a task-structured, laboratory setting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Alcohol and the continuation of early marital aggression.

BACKGROUND: Husband alcohol use has frequently been found to be related to husband-to-wife marital violence. Research has demonstrated a prospective link between husband alcohol use before marriage and husband-to-wife aggression in the first year of marriage. The present study examined the relationships of husband violence, marital conflict, and couple's alcohol use in the first year of marriage to husband-to-wife marital violence in the second and third years of marriage. METHODS: Newlywed couples were recruited at the time of marriage and were interviewed regarding alcohol use and experience with violence before marriage, 1 year after marriage, and 3 years after marriage. RESULTS: Year 1 violence was predictive of subsequent marital violence. Husband and wife drinking patterns in the first year of marriage interacted to predict violence in later years. The most violence in subsequent years occurred in couples where the husband was a heavy drinker and the wife was not. Husbands who were violent in year 1 were more likely to be violent in later years. When no violence occurred in the first year, frequent use of verbal aggression in year 1 was predictive of violence in subsequent years. CONCLUSIONS: The predictive value of husband drinking patterns for subsequent violence extends beyond the transition to marriage. The fact that husband and wife alcohol use interacted to predict future aggression suggests that the relationship between husband alcohol use and marital violence is not spurious nor the result of conflict and violence promoting alcohol use. The findings may reflect multiple instances of acute intoxication and/or alcohol-related stress and conflict within the relationship, both of which may increase the likelihood of aggression.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Alcohol use in the year before marriage: alcohol expectancies and peer drinking as proximal influences on husband and wife alcohol involvement.

BACKGROUND: Models of adolescent alcohol involvement that include individual difference, family, and peer risk factors indicate a significant association between the drinking of adolescents and that of their peers. Peer drinking influences, however, have not been investigated extensively in integrative models of adult drinking. The purpose of this study was to test a model of adult drinking that incorporated the potentially important risk factor of partner drinking and in which proximal risk factors (peer drinking, alcohol expectancies) were hypothesized to be strongly associated with adult alcohol use and to mediate relationships between more distal risk factors and drinking. METHODS: Couples (n = 389) were assessed at the time of their first marriage. Separate, self-administered questionnaires were completed at home by both husbands and wives. Distal risk factors included family history of alcoholism, antisocial behavior, and depressive symptomatology. Substantive relationships were tested in a model that included spousal associations with respect to distal risk factors, proximal risk factors, and drinking. RESULTS: Findings demonstrate the unique association of alcohol expectancies and peer drinking with adult alcohol use. Of particular relevance is the significance of the social network as a correlate of adult drinking. A peer network characterized by a higher level of alcohol involvement was strongly associated with heavier drinking among both men and women. This relationship was independent of sociodemographic and individual difference factors, alcohol expectancies, and partner's drinking. Results also demonstrate the similarity between husband and wife drinking, an association that cannot be attributed to assorting with respect to the other risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The social network continues to significantly impact drinking behavior in adulthood. The relevancy of peer and partner drinking influences to adult alcohol involvement suggests that the immediate social environment may have a prominent role in the continuity/discontinuity of heavy or problem drinking during the transition to marriage.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Parent-infant interactions among families with alcoholic fathers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers' alcoholism and the quality of parent-infant interactions during free play. A related goal was to study the potential mediating or moderating role of comorbid parental psychopathology, such as depression and antisocial behavior, difficult infant temperament, and parental aggression. The sample consisted of 204 families with 12-month-old infants (104 alcoholic and 100 control families), recruited from New York State birth records. Results indicated that fathers' alcoholism was associated with a number of other risk factors (depression, antisocial behavior, and family aggression). Fathers' alcoholism was also associated with more negative father-infant interactions as indicated by lower paternal sensitivity, positive affect, verbalizations, higher negative affect, and lower infant responsiveness among alcoholic fathers. As expected, fathers' depression mediated the relationship between fathers' alcoholism and sensitivity, while maternal depression mediated the association between maternal alcohol problems and maternal sensitivity. Parents' psychopathology did not moderate the association between alcoholism and parent-infant interactions. The results from the present study suggest that the origins of risk for later maladjustment among children of alcoholic fathers are apparent as early as infancy and highlight the role of comorbid parental risk factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Drinking and marital aggression in newlyweds: an event-based analysis of drinking and the occurrence of husband marital aggression.

OBJECTIVE: Research suggests that domestically violent men are more likely to be heavy drinkers than nonviolent men. However, very little data has addressed the relationship between the occurrence of a domestic violence episode and the co-occurrence of husband or wife alcohol consumption. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between husband and wife drinking and whether the most serious conflict involved verbal aggression, moderate physical aggression or severe physical aggression. METHOD: Newlywed couples (n = 366) who were assessed with respect to risk factors for marital violence at the time of marriage were interviewed at the end of their first year of marriage. These in-person interviews focused on characteristics (location, presence of other people, husband drinking, wife drinking) of the most severe verbal conflict, and the first and the most severe episode of physical aggression. RESULTS: After controlling for individual difference risk factors including husband and wife drinking patterns, husband drinking was more likely in episodes of physical vs episodes of verbal aggression. This finding was consistent in both husband and wife, and consistent in both between-groups and within-groups analyses. Wife drinking was largely unrelated to occurrence or severity of violence. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the contention that alcohol use may contribute to the occurrence and/or severity of domestic violence, particularly in the early stages of marriage.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Husband's and wife's drinking: unilateral or bilateral influences among newlyweds in a general population sample.

OBJECTIVE: It is often assumed that a husband's drinking influences his wife's drinking, but that the wife's drinking has no impact on her husband's drinking. However, there are little data that examine this. This article explores drinking patterns over the transition to marriage to assess whether changes in drinking patterns are influenced by the spouse's drinking and whether this influence is comparable for husbands and wives. METHOD: Approximately 500 husbands and wives were recruited after applying for their marriage licenses and participated in a longitudinal study of alcohol and marriage. Couples completed questionnaires that assessed alcohol use over the preceding year. These questionnaires were completed at the time of marriage and at the first anniversary. RESULTS: Structural equation models were used to examine the longitudinal relationships between husband and wife drinking. The final model indicated that husbands and wives manifested similar drinking patterns at the time of marriage that could not be attributed to sociodemographic factors. Husbands' drinking at premarriage was significantly associated with wives' drinking after marriage, but the reverse was not true. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that husbands and wives display similar patterns in alcohol use, in part because husbands and wives marry similar individuals and because common life experiences impact the drinking of couples in a comparable manner. The similarity also occurs as the reflection of a husband influence on the wife. However, this process appears to be unilateral in that there was no evidence that the wife's drinking had an impact on the drinking of her husband.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Alcohol and the marriage effect.

OBJECTIVE: Research indicates a marriage effect with respect to drinking and drinking problems. This effect is characterized by less consumption and fewer problems among married men and women as compared with either single or divorced individuals. METHOD: This article reviews evidence regarding processes that might account for the marriage effect. RESULTS: The literature suggests that the marriage effect reflects three processes: (1) reduced alcohol consumption triggered by the transition to marriage, (2) the deleterious effect of heavy drinking on marital quality and marital stability and (3) increased consumption in response to the transition to divorce. CONCLUSIONS: Given the nature of these transitions, it is argued that transitions to marriage and divorce should be viewed as unique opportunities for adult prevention activities, but that more pre-prevention research focused on changes over these transitions is needed to help target prevention efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The effects of alcohol on the marital interactions of aggressive and nonaggressive husbands and their wives.

This study examined the marital interactions of 60 maritally aggressive and 75 nonaggressive men and their wives under a baseline condition, and then after the husband had received no alcohol, a placebo, or alcohol. These sessions were videotaped and coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System by coders who were unaware of group status and specific condition. Aggressive couples exhibited more negative behavior and higher levels of negative reciprocity in the baseline interaction than did nonaggressive couples. The administration of alcohol led husbands, but not wives, to increase their problem-solving attempts. Alcohol, but not the placebo, led to increased negativity of both husbands and wives.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Current directions in research on understanding and preventing intoxicated aggression.

The present paper describes promising research directions that emerged from a recent international conference on intoxication and aggression and from the scientific literature generally. In this overview, intoxicated aggression is seen as arising from an interactional process involving multiple contributing factors or causes. This model helps to define research directions that can further understanding and prevention. First, the societal/cultural framing of intoxication and aggression exerts a powerful influence on drinking behaviour and needs to be better understood. Another important area for research is the moderating role on alcohol-related aggression of personal factors such as predisposition to aggression and individual differences in expectations about alcohol and aggression. Research on the role of basic pharmacological effects of alcohol in increasing the likelihood of aggressive behaviour is also a critical aspect of understanding intoxicated aggression. Drinking contexts and environments play a considerable role in the relationship between intoxication and aggressive behaviour and need to be better understood. Another critical direction for future research is the study of intoxicated aggression as a process involving the interaction of the person, the situation and the effects of alcohol in natural and experimental settings. Finally, the paper highlights promising directions for research on interventions to prevent intoxicated aggression and violence.

Aggression↗
PubMed1996

Prospective prediction of husband marital aggression within newlywed couples.

This study prospectively examined a social interactional model of husband marital aggression. Young couples were assessed at the time of their 1st marriage with respect to marital conflict styles, alcohol consumption, hostility, gender identity, perceived power inequity, and history of family violence. Couples were reassessed at their 1-year anniversary, and information concerning marital aggression was collected. Most of the constructs were prospectively related to husband aggression, but these relationships were largely mediated through marital conflict styles and husband alcohol consumption, which in turn were influenced by husband's hostility, gender identity, and perceived power inequity.

Adult↗