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Time and Alcohol Do Not Change Everything: How Intoxicated Witnesses Perceive Aggression in Intimate Partner Violence
Univ Gothenburg, Sweden; Inst Globally Distributed Open Res and Educ, Sweden; Natl Board Forens Med, Sweden.
Inst Globally Distributed Open Res and Educ, Sweden; Swedish Prison and Probat Serv, Sweden.
Linköping University, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Barnafrid. Linköping University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Inst Globally Distributed Open Res and Educ, Sweden; Swedish Police Author, Sweden.
Kings Coll London, England; Reykjavik Univ, Iceland.
2021 (English)In: Journal of Interpersonal Violence, ISSN 0886-2605, E-ISSN 1552-6518, Vol. 36, no 23-24, p. NP13028-NP13053Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Although alcohol-intoxicated witnesses to violent crimes are common, research on how alcohol affects witnesses perception of aggression is sparse. In the present study, it was investigated whether different levels of intoxication altered how severe witnesses perceived aggression displayed by involved parties in an intimate partner violence (IPV) scenario to be. An experimental mixed-groups design 3 (sober vs. moderate vs. high breath alcohol concentration [BAC]) x 2 (immediate vs. one week delayed interview) was used. Socially drinking men and women (n = 137; 67 and 70, respectively) were randomized to an alcohol condition (0.8 g/kg adjusted to 0.75 g/kg for women, divided into two intoxication groups: moderate amp;lt;= 0.08 and high amp;gt;= 0.08) or a control condition (juice). They were also randomized into a direct interview condition or a delayed interview condition. In a laboratory setting, they consumed drinks and viewed an IPV scenario on film. During their interview, the participants rated how severe they perceived the involved parties aggression to be. Inter alia, participants in the high BAC group perceived both parties physically aggressive behavior as comparatively less severe than the sober and moderately intoxicated witnesses did. The high BAC group also perceived the IPV scenario as less unpleasant than the other two groups, and they maintained this perception over time and repeated interviews. A BAC level of amp;gt;= 0.08 was required to significantly lower witnesses perceived severity of physical aggression, possibly caused by alcohols anxiety-dampening effect as well as its impairing effect on cognitive processing capacity over this level of intoxication. That alcohol intoxication at (or over) such a BAC level makes witnesses perceive physical aggression as less severe and less unpleasant, and also that such an altered perception holds over time and repeated interviews, is important for legal practitioners to be aware of when handling intoxicated witnesses to violence. Therefore, this issue warrants further investigation.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC , 2021. Vol. 36, no 23-24, p. NP13028-NP13053
Keywords [en]
alcohol and drugs; violence; perceptions of domestic violence; domestic violence; legal intervention
National Category
Applied Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-164084DOI: 10.1177/0886260519900271ISI: 000513323400001PubMedID: 32046568OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-164084DiVA, id: diva2:1411814
Note

Funding Agencies|Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority [03403/2009]

Available from: 2020-03-04 Created: 2020-03-04 Last updated: 2022-04-26

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