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Abstract
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This paper identifies five research dilemmas in associating violence with substance abuse: (1) difficulty in establishing causal linkages; (2) problems associated with the legal status of substances; (3) ecological and individualistic fallacies; (4) measurement issues and problems with data sources; and (5) research design problems. The author then discusses social context and the role of rational choice as frameworks to explain the interaction among drugs, alcohol, and violence.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this article by Fagan was to identify five research dilemmas in associating violence with substance abuse. The role of rational choice was also discussed to explain the interaction between drugs, alcohol, and violence.
METHODOLOGY:
A non-experimental discussion of the limitations and dilemmas of the current research on the topic is employed.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author discussed five dilemmas in associating violence with substance abuse: 1) difficulty in establishing causal linkages, 2) problems associated with the legal status of substances, 3) ecological and individualistic fallacies, 4) measurement issues and problems with data sources, and 5) research design problems.
The author noted that despite the association found between violence and substance abuse, a causal relationship has still been unclear. Specifically because "the presence of alcohol or drugs in violent events does not necessarily imply that these substances affected the behavior of any of the participants. To assign a causal role to drugs or alcohol requires that we be certain that the behavior would not have occurred if the user had been sober" (p. 68).
The problems associated with the legal status of substances concerned "limiting the options to experiment in the laboratory with banned substances, contributing to a confounding and social selection of the settings where some drugs are used, and introducing variables of legal and social controls in the natural course of drug use that may interact with effects specific to the drugs" (p. 71).
Ecological and individualistic fallacies was note by Fagan to add to the dilemma of multiple causality. The author noted that most drinking events or drug-use occasions do not result in violence but that alcohol is present in more than 50 percent of all homicides and serious assaults. The author challenged the causal relationship between alcohol or drug use and violence for two reasons. First, it would be an ecological fallacy to assume that substances have a uniform effect across individuals committing violent acts. The author noted that it is difficult to separate environments or individual traits of substance users from their violent behavior. The second was the individualistic fallacy which suggests that the "connection between intoxication and physical aggression is the result of personality factors, endocrinological responses, neuroanatomy, or other factors unique to individuals" (p. 72). Limitations to this explanation expressed by the author included the exclusion of situational, structural, or cultural influences. Further, the author noted that if both ecological and individual influences contributed to the relationship between violence and substances, then a conceptual framework would be needed that specified intervening constructs and mechanisms to consolidate these perspectives.
Measurement issues further complicated associating violence with substance abuse because empirical studies disagree about the precise correlates of violence or substance abuse. Further, some correlates vary in their association depending on how violence or substance use are measured and on the source of the data. The author noted three specific difficulties in measuring violence: (1) correlates of violence or substance abuse vary depending on whether they measured the behavior or the consequences, specific effects of the substance, and the number of days the substance was consumed rather than the number of drinks consumed, (2) operational definitions often vary which would result in different conclusions, and (3) data sources have had intrinsic measurement errors.
The last dilemma involved research models whose efforts could be unreliable or ungeneralizable to the population, thus misinforming the knowledge base.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested two new frameworks which address the research and explanation dilemmas in associating substance abuse with violence. The two frameworks, influence of social context and human guidedness and rational choices, include what the knowledge base suggested: surveillance, analysis and intervention. The influence of social context emphasized that analysis of context requires attention to both the motivations and the restraints within the setting. This is based on the influence settings and social contexts have on the choice of substance and rules, norms and proscribing behavior, interpretation of the situation, and the probability of aggressive behavior. Further, contexts should be taken into account when conducting research on substances and aggression because contexts have an influence not only on the social controls that limit aggression but also on the arousal processes that motivate it. Important variables used in analyses of events included the sequences of behavioral interactions leading up to and following the violence, including person/place interactions, person/substance interactions, person/person interactions, amounts of alcohol or drugs consumed, and the characteristics of the user.
Human guidedness and rational choices emphasized the interactions between persons in certain settings leading to the violent behavior rather than the specific effects of alcohol or drugs. Fagan noted that some would argue that drinking behavior is socially functional. This framework suggests that there are intervening constructs that need to be identified in order to properly explain the relationship between substances and violence. Two of the constructs are emotions and the specific situation.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Violence Causes
Alcohol Related Violence
Alcohol Use Effects
Drug Use Effects
Drug Related Violence
Offender Substance Use
Substance Use Effects
Substance Use-Violence Co-Occurence
Adult Violence
Adult Offender
Adult Substance Use
Language: en |