Exploring the Temporal Association between Young People's Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Violent Behavior

Abstract

Alcohol consumption patterns such as binge drinking have routinely been associated with interpersonal assault amongst young people. Examining how drinking patterns are temporally associated with violent behavior during adolescence and young adulthood further develops an understanding of this relationship. This study employs data from the Offending Crime and Justice Survey in England and Wales, offering insight into young people's drinking and offending behavior. A cross-sectional model examines the extent to which binge drinking is associated with the likelihood of committing assault in the same year. An earlier measure of binge drinking (in the previous year) was subsequently used to examine the influence on later violent behavior. Evidence that the pattern of drinking is associated with violent offending, as well as a contemporaneous association between binge drinking and violence in the same year, supports the existing literature in the field and suggests that frequent acute intoxication is a temporally proximal risk factor for the increased propensity of committing interpersonal assault offenses. However, there is no evidence found in the current study to suggest that earlier measures of binge drinking frequency are associated with increased propensity for later violent offending. Furthermore, current findings do not suggest that the association between binge drinking and the propensity for violence is moderated by gender, thus suggesting interventions aimed at reducing violent offending ought to address binge drinking in both males and females.