Over-arousal as a Mechanism Between Alcohol and Intimate Partner Violence
Condition: Domestic Violence; Alcohol Consumption
MeSH terms: Alcohol Drinking
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem costing $8.3 billion per
      year with over $6 billion in direct medical and mental health costs alone. Alcohol is present
      in most incidents of IPV, and contributes to more frequent and severe IPV incidents. These
      facts, coupled with the fact that there are no effective interventions for IPV, make
      understanding mechanisms through which alcohol is associated with IPV critical.
    

Detailed description: 
      Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health problem for which there are
      currently no effective treatments. Alcohol use is present in most instances of IPV and is
      associated with an increase in the frequency and severity of IPV. The investigators believe
      that alcohol may be related to the increase in frequency and severity of IPV through a
      process of over-arousal that results from the cortically and psychophysiological arousing
      effects of alcohol during the ascending limb of intoxication and at peak Blood Alcohol
      Concentration (BAC) compounded by the unique behavioral and affective patterns of violent
      couples. The first aim of the proposal is to determine if increases in arousal after alcohol
      exposure is potentiated by evocative partner stimuli and is greater for distressed violent
      (DV) partners than distressed nonviolent (DNV) partners. A second aim is to determine if
      alcohol induced arousal interferes with DV partners' ability to regulate emotion in response
      to evocative partner stimuli compared to DNV partners. The proposed study is an experimental
      comparison of the effects of alcohol on arousal and emotion regulation between 35 DV and 35
      DNV partners. One partner from each DV couple will be pseudo-randomly selected and yoked to a
      DNV partner of the same sex and comparable relationship satisfaction for participant in the
      experiment. To test the overall hypothesis that over-arousal is a mechanism through which
      alcohol is associated with increases in the frequency and severity of IPV, the selected
      partners will participate in a counter-balanced placebo session and an alcohol administration
      session during which electroencephalography (EEG), psychophysiology and pupillary response
      measurements of arousal will be collected during an emotion regulation task. The data will be
      analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA with a between-subjects factor. The investigators
      expect that DV partners will experience significantly greater arousal than DNV partners
      during the evocative stimuli condition. The investigators also expect that DV partners will
      experience greater difficulty regulating emotion during evocative stimuli than DNV partners
      and that this effect will be compounded during the alcohol administration condition. Findings
      from this study will provide firm evidence that alcohol is associated with IPV through a
      mechanism of over-arousal and provide key targets for intervention to prevent future IPV. The
      data from the current proposal will be used to test biofeedback as an adjunct to a novel
      behavioral intervention to reduce drinking and increase behavioral flexibility in couples
      with a history of IPV.
    

Intervention name(s): Alcohol beverage; Placebo beverage
Intervention type(s): Drug; Drug
Intervention description(s): Alcohol beverage; Placebo beverage
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Intervention model description: Distressed violent and distressed nonviolent couples participate in a placebo-controlled alcohol administration study with an emotion-regulation task.
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Basic Science