Marital violence before and after alcoholism treatment.

The prevalence and frequency of marital violence were assessed for 88 male alcoholics and their wives at entry to and 1 year after completing a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) program. In the year before BMT, both the alcoholics and their wives had a significantly and substantially higher prevalence and frequency of marital violence than reported by a demographically matched, nonalcoholic comparison sample. Although violence decreased significantly in prevalence and frequency in the year after BMT, it remained significantly elevated relative to the matched controls when the entire sample of alcoholics was considered. However, extent of violence after BMT was significantly associated with the alcoholics' drinking outcome status: After treatment, remitted alcoholics no longer had elevated marital violence levels whereas relapsed alcoholics did. Implications for understanding the marital violence and alcoholism connection and cautions that should be exercised in interpreting the results are discussed.