Aetiology of assault with respect to alcohol, unemployment and social deprivation: a Scottish accident and emergency department case-control study

Abstract

In a study to investigate the association between alcohol consumption, unemployment and social deprivation and assault in individuals, 70 victims of assault attending a Scottish accident and emergency department were identified and matched with 70 paired age, sex and time of attendance controls. Seventy per cent were male and 30 per cent female. Cases were more likely to have been drinking (p < 0.001) and to admit to previous assault (p < 0.001), as reported in other studies. Despite living in the same geographical area (p = 0.353), the cases were more likely to be unemployed (p = 0.011) and had a higher mean deprivation score (p = 0.043). These results indicate that violence is associated with unemployment and socio-economic status of the individual and they compliement studies based on population data which have linked rates of violence with low income and social deprivation.