The Effects of Alcohol on the Marital Interactions of Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Husbands

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The Effects of Alcohol on the Marital Interactions of Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Husbands

In today's world of marriage it seems as if everyday there are more and more divorces and separations between couples. What this Psychological study examined was maybe the biggest negative effector of these relationships and that is the mixture of alcohol and problem solving in marital interactions. Alcohol in excessive nature was reported in the violence surveys consistently. Many wives of these husbands that have been battered reported their husbands as either heavy drinkers or problem drinkers. Leonard and Roberts's study showed 40-60% of these woman labeled their husbands as alcoholics. Reports also have shown that husbands that are frequently drunk have had a higher rate of violence reported toward their spouses.

The past experimental studies have shown alcohol consuming by males to cause aggression towards other males, but no other studies have been conducted showing alcohol consumption effect on marital aggression. Thus, Leonard and Roberts study is the first thanks to the conflict-resolution paradigm created by researchers of marital aggression. In this paradigm married couples are recorded on videotape and the research is caterorigized in to forms of aggression shown by the couples. There have been other studies conducted on aggression of husbands on their wives that have shown to be reasonably coherent. These past studies have shown violent husbands tend to insult their wives, and differ with their beliefs, the aggressive men tended to yell and to give very aggressive gestures. A past study had tested figures that were non-alcoholics and were given alcohol and a particular world topic to speak about. The stu...

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...actly supported in the alcohol phase. They had expected that alcohol would show more negative behavior in both the aggressive and non-aggressive couples, but that wasn't the case. Alcohol did show to increase negativity in the aggressive groups, but it didn't change much in the non-aggressive groups. Leonard and Robert's also showed that the placebo was not effective in tricking the husband into believing he was more intoxicated than he really was. The placebo also has not produced a significant increase in aggression or negativity compared to those of the alcohol group. Finally, the study did prove that alcohol does seem to increase the negativity in already aggressive husbands. It wasn't as significant as Leonard and Roberts had initially expected but their study did prove that alcohol could be a significant factor in young marriages and their aggression.

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