Alcohol use moderates the relationship between symptoms of mental illness and aggression

Alcohol Misuse, Marital Functioning and Marital Instability: An Evidence-Based Review on Intimate Partner Violence, Marital Satisfaction and Divorce

Alcohol use is a primarily social behavior, and marriage is an important aspect of social relationships. This article reviews alcohol use and its impact on several facets of the marital relationship, including the impact of alcohol use on intimate partner violence (IPV), marital satisfaction, marital functioning, and divorce. There is considerable evidence of the role alcohol plays in IPV and recent research identifies moderators of the alcohol-IPV relationship. These include personality constructs, social pressure, marital satisfaction, and traits, such as hostility and impulsivity. Marital satisfaction and alcohol use demonstrate bidirectional causality, whereas marital satisfaction predicts alcohol use behaviors, and alcohol use also predicts marital satisfaction. Longitudinal studies provide evidence that divorce is temporally associated with alcohol use, including Alcohol Use Disorder. Finally, there are a number of causative factors that interplay in the dissolution of marriage; alcohol use is one of these factors. Excessive alcohol consumption is a common reason for divorce among many couples. Across all associations between alcohol use and IPV, marital satisfaction, marital functioning, and divorce, sex and gender consistently appear as a moderator in these relationships. Another consistent finding is in respect to concordant drinking, such that marital partners who have similar patterns of alcohol consumption fare better than those with discrepant patterns of consumption. Future research should focus on greater inclusion of same-sex, LGBTQQ+, and socio-culturally diverse couples. Additionally, future studies should use Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling (APIM) to effectively examine non-independent partner data.

Impact of age of onset on the course of chronic schizophrenia: factors associated with first hospitalization in a large-scale cross-sectional study

This study aims to identify the factors influencing the age of first hospitalization in patients with chronic schizophrenia, focusing on clinical features and blood parameters. A total of 1271 patients diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia were recruited from 17 psychiatric hospitals across China. Demographic and clinical data, including age of first hospitalization, were collected. The study also included assessments of psychiatric symptoms, duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), and various blood parameters. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between these factors and the age of first hospitalization. The average age of first hospitalization was 28.07 ± 9.993 years. Single patients and those with a family history of mental illness were hospitalized at a younger age. Patients with suicidal ideation or behavior also had an earlier hospitalization age compared to those without such history. Regression analysis revealed that marital status (single), family history of mental illness, and suicide ideation or behavior were significant risk factors for earlier hospitalization age. Conversely, DUP, total protein (TP), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were positively correlated with the age of first hospitalization, while antipsychotic medication dosage and albumin (ALB) levels were negatively correlated. The study identifies significant demographic, clinical, and biochemical factors associated with the age of first hospitalization in chronic schizophrenia patients in China. These findings underscore the importance of early intervention and targeted support for high-risk groups to improve treatment outcomes.

Child abuse and aggressiveness in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in Lebanon

OBJECTIVES

To identify individual and clinical risk factors of aggressiveness, including exposure to different forms of childhood trauma, in a sample of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia.

METHODS

A total of 131 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia participated in this cross-sectional study.

RESULTS

Higher physical (Beta = 0.24, p < 0.001) and sexual (Beta = 0.29, p = 0.003) abuse, alcohol drinking (Beta = 1.46, p = 0.008), having a history of head trauma (Beta = 1.10, p = 0.041), and male gender (Beta = -1.59, p = 0.009) were significantly associated with higher mean aggression scores.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Our investigation of the factors linked to aggressiveness in patients with schizophrenia complement those of earlier findings, showing that the relationship between interacting individual and environmental risk factors and later aggressiveness is quite complex, and needs further longitudinal and prospective studies.

Acute cannabidiol treatment attenuates ethanol-induced place preference and reduces aggressivity in group-housed male rats

Alcohol abuse is a widespread cause of aggressive and impulsive behaviors that impact the users as well as their entourage. However, only a few medications are effective. Recently, cannabidiol has been reported to improve mood disorders and recovery from substance abuse, yet the psychopharmacologic effects of cannabidiol in ethanol-induced drug reward and aggressivity remain unexplored. In the present study, we investigated the effects of cannabidiol on ethanol-induced place preference and aggressivity in individually and group-housed male rats using the conditioned place preference test, and intruder evoc aggression test, respectively. The obtained results showed that ethanol significantly increased locomotor activity, induced conditioned place preference in all animals, and, specifically, increased aggressivity in individually housed rats. These behavioural impairments induced by ethanol were associated with decreased glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors transcription in the prefrontal cortex. Notwithstanding, cannabidiol at a dose of 10 mg/kg significantly inhibited Et-OH-induced place preference in group-housed, but not in individually housed rats, and markedly inhibited the aggressive behaviour. These findings suggest that ethanol-induced behavioural impairments are dependent on the housing condition that may affect corticosterone receptors expression and subsequently the animal responsivity to cannabidiol treatment.

Alcohol use, depressive symptoms, and intimate partner violence perpetration: A longitudinal analysis among men with HIV in northern Vietnam

Background

While the link between alcohol use and male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) has been well-established, research is needed to test whether psychosocial factors interact with alcohol use to exacerbate IPV perpetration. We tested whether depressive symptoms influenced the strength and/or direction of the alcohol-IPV relationship among men with HIV in Vietnam.

Methods

This study is a secondary analysis using data from a randomized controlled trial conducted in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. Participants were clinic patients with HIV and hazardous alcohol use. Questionnaires were administered at baseline, three, six, and 12 months. Alcohol use was assessed as proportion of days alcohol abstinent. Analyses were restricted to males who reported being married/cohabitating at baseline (N = 313). Multilevel growth models were used to test whether time-varying depressive symptoms modified the time-varying effect of alcohol use on IPV perpetration.

Results

Time-varying depressive symptoms modified the effect of proportion of days alcohol abstinent on IPV perpetration. However, the pattern of effect modification was not as expected, as reporting depressive symptoms weakened the alcohol-IPV relationship. At times when participants screened negative for depressive symptoms, those who reported higher proportion of days alcohol abstinent than usual had significantly lower odds of IPV perpetration (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.17, 95% Confidence Interval 0.06, 0.45, p = 0.0004). At times when participants screened positive for depressive symptoms, there was no observed effect of alcohol use on IPV perpetration (OR = 4.28, 95% CI 0.80, 22.78, p = 0.09).

Conclusion

The findings highlight the complex nature of the alcohol-IPV relationship and the need to investigate the intersection between hazardous drinking, mental health, and IPV. Men who concurrently report depressive symptoms and heightened alcohol use may be socially isolated from an intimate partner or experiencing fatigue, leading to less alcohol-related IPV perpetration. Mental health interventions addressing depression and alcohol misuse integrated into HIV services may reduce IPV perpetration.

Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Among Men Living with HIV in Northern Vietnam

We examined the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and characteristics of HIV-infected male perpetrators. The cross-sectional study was conducted in Vietnam with male antiretroviral treatment clients (N = 1099; mean age = 40.2 years). Bivariable associations were tested between psychological or physical/sexual IPV perpetration in the last 12 months and sociodemographic, psychosocial, and sexual behavioral factors using prevalence ratios. Factors significant at p < 0.10 were entered in multivariable models for each IPV outcome using a modified Poisson approach. Results showed 15.6% (N = 171/1099) reported perpetrating psychological IPV and 7.6% (N = 84/1099) perpetrating physical/sexual IPV in the last 12 months. HIV risk behaviors, including hazardous drinking and multiple sexual partners, having witnessed interparental violence as a child, and depressive symptoms were associated with perpetrating IPV. HIV interventions targeting HIV-infected men in Vietnam should intervene on IPV perpetration by addressing the co-occurring factors of sexual risk, depression, alcohol use, and child maltreatment that are correlated with IPV.