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RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: Nabila El-Bassel, Louisa Gilbert, Elwin Wu, Hyun Go, and Jennifer Hill Relationship Between Drug Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence: A Longitudinal Study Among Women Receiving Methadone Am J Public Health 2005; 95: 465-470 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Past and future research on the crack-domestic violence link

Devon D Brewer, Charles B. Fleming, University of Washington   (3 May 2005)

Past and future research on the crack-domestic violence link 3 May 2005
Devon D Brewer, Director Interdisciplinary Scientific Research, Charles B. Fleming, University of Washington Send letter to journal: Re: Past and future research on the crack-domestic violence link interscientific{at}yahoo.com Devon D Brewer, et al.	In their article in the March issue of the Journal, El-Bassel et al. state that “… this is the first longitudinal investigation of the causal relationship between frequent drug use and IPV [intimate partner violence] among a random sample of women attending MMTPs [methadone maintenance treatment programs]” (p. 468).1 This report is an important contribution to the literature. However, it gives the incorrect impression that the relationship between drug use and IPV had not previously been studied longitudinally. In a sample of opiate-dependent women in Seattle methadone treatment programs, crack use and use of other types of cocaine were the only meaningful longitudinal drug use predictors of IPV victimization.2 Alcohol, heroin, and marijuana use were each unrelated to IPV victimization. In contrast to the El-Bassel et al. study, the Seattle study used continuous measures of drug use, and IPV victimization at time 1 was controlled in analyses of IPV victimization at time 2. Given El-Bassel et al.’s replication of this longitudinal association, useful next steps include examining the temporal relationship between specific events of crack use and IPV and gathering perpetrators’ perceptions of the factors precipitating their violence.3 Such research would permit a more direct evaluation of the mechanisms underlying this relationship. 1. El-Bassel N, Gilbert L, Wu E, Go H, Hill J. Relationship between drug abuse and intimate partner violence: A longitudinal study among women receiving methadone. Am J Public Health. 2005;465-470. 2. Brewer DD, Fleming CB, Haggerty KP, Catalano RF. Drug use predictors of partner violence in opiate-dependent women. Violence Vict. 1998;107-115. 3. Daly M, Wilson M. Homicide. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.