The relationship between drug use by batterers and domestic violence
Jospitre, T., Lewis, C.S., Griffing, S., Chu, M., Sage, R.E., Madry, L. & Primm, B.J.
Presented at the college on Problems of Drug Dependence in Puerto Rico (June 2004)

This investigation examines the relationship between drug use and domestic violence. Predominately minority female residents of a domestic violence shelter (N= 254) were interviewed regarding their batterers’ drug use and the type and amount of violence they encountered. 48.8% of the respondents reported that their batterer used drugs over the past six months. 78.5% of those batterers who used drugs did so at least once a day and as much as four or more times a day. As expected, the frequency with which batterers used drugs was associated with the number of violent episodes reported over the past year (p<. 01). 15.7 % of batterers who used drugs used a knife or gun compared to 6.3% of batterers who did not use drugs. Such findings suggest the use of drugs may be a precipitating factor in relation to the frequency of violence exerted by batterers, however, we do not assert that there is a causal relationship between the two. Limitations and clinical implications of findings are discussed.