This paper summarises what we know about the link between alcohol and family violence – specifically intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment.
Increasingly international approaches include reducing alcohol harm as a specific action point in preventing family violence.
Dealing with alcohol harm could lessen the risk of family violence. No single intervention can address family violence in its totality. There are complex and multiple factors across all levels of society that lead to family violence.
The paper also presents what is known about interventions and strategies to reduce alcohol-related family violence. For example the paper notes that programmes that target excess alcohol consumption by individuals and within relationships can be effective in reducing intimate partner violence.
The literature review on which this What Works paper is based was produced by the SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, College of Health at Massey University for Superu.