Individual-level interventions for alcohol-related violence: Expanding targets for inclusion in treatment programs

Abstract

Purpose: Alcohol-related violence is a major public health problem, which can be tackled at a number of different levels, including societal, contextual, familial, social, and individual. The focus in this paper is on individual treatments to reduce the risk of violence associated with social drinking. Methods: This is a narrative review of the processes by which alcohol increases the likelihood of violence, with an emphasis on its deleterious effects on social information processing. Results: Alcohol priming promotes aggression cognitions and behavior; the drinking context presents triggers for violence; alcohol focuses attention on aggression cues; alcohol outcome expectancies predict drinking; anxious antisocial people who drink to increase social confidence may be at increased risk for aggression; hypermasculine values play a part in aggressive responding; emotional responses of anger, fear and excitement play a part in aggressive responses to perceived provocation; having a broad and accessible aggressive response repertoire, along with positive evaluations of aggressive responses predict aggressive behavior. Conclusions: Additional intervention components that could improve the effectiveness of individual-level interventions for alcohol-related violence are suggested. These could augment conventional interventions, but there is a considerable amount of work to be done in developing applications specifically for alcohol-related violence and evaluating outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)