Alcohol and spouse abuse ethnic differences

This chapter examines theoretical and empirical evidence on the interplay between ethnicity, structural and cultural factors, and alcohol-related assaults against wives and considers whether there is a differential vulnerability to such assaults among varying ethnic groups. Our review demonstrated that structural factors emerged as dominant in their influence on alcohol-related wife assaults in varying ethnic groups. The empirical evidence, though limited, showed that the linkages between drinking and wife beating are not just a problem of poor ethnic minorities. Heavy drinking per se is associated similarly in Hispanic-American and Anglo-American families. However, we also identified differences among Hispanic subgroups, as well as cultural variations in drinking patterns that differentially affected wife assaults. Although data on alcohol-wife assault relationships among African Americans are extremely limited, the available evidence indicates little or no effect of drinking by African-American men on wife assaults, after taking other socioeconomic variables into account. Empirical evidence did not support the saliency of particular cultural beliefs favoring violence toward women as intrinsic to any one ethnic group. The major cultural differences in alcohol-related cognitions are consistent with the greater legitimation of alcohol-related misbehavior and the acceptance of "machismo" drinking by Hispanic Americans compared to Anglo-Americans.