Abuse in Adult Lesbian Relationships: Effects of Alcohol, Family Violence, and Partner Abuse

Background. Over a third of adult women report they are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and prevalence rates for lesbian relationships are similar to non-lesbian relationships. Although some risk factors, such as family of origin violence and alcohol are common, lesbians are subject to unique IPV risk factors such as internalized homophobia, identity abuse, and stress associated with being a sexual orientation minority. Given that IPV perpetration has been studied far less than IPV victimization, the current study examines lesbian IPV perpetration in relation to violence trauma (both family of origin and relationship) and substance abuse. Drawing from acute models of alcohol/IPV and a trauma-informed theory of women’s use of violence in intimate relationships, we hypothesize that (1) violence in the family of origin predicts IPV perpetration, and (2) the relationship between family of origin violence and IVP perpetration is mediated by relationship violence and alcohol abuse.

Methods. A sample of 950 women (age≥18) who self-identified as lesbian or same-sex-loving who had been in a relationship in the past year completed an online survey. For this analysis, IPV perpetration and relationship violence trauma were reduced to dichotomous variables, based on two subscales of the Abusive Behavior Inventory. Family of origin violence was also treated as a dichotomous variable based on a series of questions. Alcohol abuse included both acute (binge drinking) and chronic (probable substance abuse), based on quantity/frequency indices and CAGE scores. Ethnicity, employment, education, and age were controlled in all multivariate analyses. Following MacKinnon, Fairchild, and Fritz’s approach for mediation with dichotomous outcomes, we used logistic regression models to test our hypotheses.

Results. Over 46 percent of survey participants were involved in IPV, a somewhat greater proportion than previous studies. One third (33%) of the participants report perpetrating IPV, 39% report being the victim of IPV, and 25% report both victimization and perpetration. Findings from the current study showed that controlling for demographics, violence in the family of origin was a significant predictor of IPV perpetration, supporting our first hypothesis. Our second hypothesis was partially supported: We found the relationship between violence in the family of origin and IPV perpetration was partially mediated by relationship violence. We did not find, however, that alcohol abuse (either acute or chronic) mediated the relationship between violence in the family of origin and IPV perpetration. Chronic alcohol abuse variable was a significant predictor of IPV perpetration, but binge drinking was not.

Conclusion. IPV prevalence for victimization and perpetration of IPV are somewhat higher in this sample than IPV in studies of heterosexual women. The proposed trauma-SUD model of lesbian IPV is supported by the data, with the strongest predictors of IPV perpetration being relationship violence and substance abuse. Our findings support calls for specialized services for lesbians/same-sex-loving women which are trauma-informed and attuned to both IPV and substance abuse.