Though the co-occurrence of substance abuse and domestic violence is well documented, less is known about dual-problem men (men with both a substance abuse problem and a problem with perpetrating domestic violence against their female partner) in the African-American community. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for some dual-problem men to receive batterer intervention services, while other dual-problem men receive substance abuse treatment.

The purpose of the research is to describe and compare two naturally occurring groups of African-American dual-problem men in order to determine whether there is a rational reason that might explain why some African-American dual-problem men receive services in a batterer intervention setting while others receive treatment in a substance abuse setting. To this end, a secondary data analysis was performed using data gathered via intake interviews conducted by clinical staff. In this case, 35 dual-problem African-American men in substance abuse treatment at a facility in Chicago were compared with 66 dual-problem African-American men adjudicated for domestic abuse in the Cook County Court system using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Even though both groups include only African-American men and share the common problems of substance abuse and domestic violence, because of the differences in intervention setting, it was reasonable to expect that the groups would differ. In this case, it was expected that the dual-problem African-American men in the substance abuse setting would have a more severe substance abuse problem than those in the domestic violence setting, and that dual-problem African-American men adjudicated for domestic abuse would have a more severe problem with perpetrating domestic violence than those in the substance abuse treatment setting. Despite the logic of this notion, the present study found that though dual-problem men in the substance abuse setting had a more severe substance abuse problem, both groups, on average, were equally violent. These results are consistent with prior research (Brown, Caplan, Werk & Seraganian, 1999; Stith, Crossman & Bischof, 1991), and illustrate that barriers to the detection of domestic violence continue to exist. Furthermore, detection of domestic violence may be particularly problematic for dual-problem men in the African-American community given the effect that racism may play in their trust of and participation in societal institutions traditionally dominated by European-Americans. These findings also suggest the need for universal screening for domestic violence of those individuals entering substance abuse treatment, and the need for the creation and implementation of intervention programs specifically designed for the challenges facing dual-problem men in general and African-American dual-problem men in particular.