ABSTRACT
Research demonstrates a clear and consistent, yet complicated, link between family violence and substance abuse (Easton, Swan, & Sinha, 2000a). For example, Easton et al. (2000a) studied the family violence histories of 130 outpatient substance abuse treatment clients over a two-month timeframe. Among these clients, 37% reported some history of physical family violence, with 22% reporting adulthood victimization, 14% reporting childhood abuse, and 18% reporting physical violence perpetration. These researchers compared clients with a history of physical family violence to the clients without such a history, and those with the family violence history generally demonstrated more severe problems than those without. For example, clients with family violence histories had higher levels of alcohol use, cocaine use, and depression.
