ABSTRACT

Personality, biology, and socioenvironmental variables may generally predispose individuals to violence, but other, more immediate influences can place a particular individual at a particular point in time at high risk. Why might a man be violent today, and not yesterday? One frequently cited reason and a focus of public concern is the relationship between substance abuse and aggressive behavior (Bakan, 1971; Busch et al., 1990; Jackson, 1958; Rosenbaum & Hoge, 1989; Snell, 1992; Stephens, 1994; Taylor & Sears, 1988; U.S. Department of Justice, 1990; Zagar et al., 1990). Can intoxication cause an otherwise nonaggressive individual to become violent? Do different types of substances cause different degrees of behavioral change?