Trauma, drink and violence a ‘toxic mix’
HEAVIER drinkers are much more likely to be involved in violence if they have experienced trauma or adversity as a child, a new study has shown.
Public Health Wales and Bangor University surveyed 12,669 adults across England and Wales about their drinking habits and whether they had been violent in the past 12 months.
The study found that more than a quarter (28.3%) of those who were both heavier drinkers and had experienced high levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) had hit someone.
This compared to 3.6% in those with no ACEs who were heavier drinkers, and 1.3% of men with no ACEs who were moderate drinkers or abstainers.
The link between ACEs, alcohol and violence was especially pronounced in young men aged 18-29, with 62% of those with high levels of ACEs who are heavier drinkers having hit someone in the previous 12 months.
The equivalent figure for women was lower but still substantial. Approximately one in four (24.1%) women aged 18-29 who were heavier drinkers and had high levels of ACEs had hit someone in the past year.
Professor Mark Bellis, director of policy, research and international development at Public Health Wales, and lead author of the study, said: “We know that people who suffer high levels of adversity in their childhood can find it more difficult to control their emotions as adults, including feelings of aggression.
“Our results suggest that when they are also heavier drinkers, this may further erode their control and increase the risk of them being involved in violence.
“Unfortunately, our results also suggest that individuals who were abused and neglected as children or exposed to traumas such as parents fighting in their home are also more likely to become heavier drinkers. In many circumstances, drinking more heavily may be something they began in order to cope with childhood traumas.
“Sadly, a toxic mix of childhood trauma and high adult alcohol consumption is not uncommon, and we found this combination in one in 20 of all men we surveyed.
“Such individuals are more than 20 times more likely to have hit someone in the last 12 months compared to lower-level drinkers with adversity-free childhoods.”
Other results from the study identified similar relationships between ACEs, alcohol use and being a recent victim of violence.
In women with no history of ACEs who were moderate drinkers or abstainers, less than 1% (0.8%) had been hit in the past 12 months – but this rose to 13% in those with high levels of ACEs and heavier alcohol consumption.
In men, this difference was even more marked, rising from 1.9% (no ACEs and low or no alcohol consumption) to 32% (high levels of ACEs and heavier alcohol consumption).
Professor Karen Hughes, from Bangor University, co-author the study, said: “If you hit someone you are more likely be hit yourself, and this may be part of the explanation why people who are currently heavier drinkers and have a history of adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have been a recent victim of violence.
“However, for some people, their childhood adversities will have included experiencing violence and seeing domestic violence in their homes.
“Some women who experience such childhoods may believe suffering domestic violence is expected and so stay in abusive relationships and use alcohol as a coping mechanism.”