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Differences in a couple’s drinking habits, as opposed to the drinking itself, is exactly what leads to marital dissatisfaction, breakup, according to research conducted recently by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).
The researchers followed 634 couples with the first nine many years of marriage, and found that couples in which just one spouse was a heavy drinker had higher rates of divorce than other couples.
By contrast, couples in which both spouses drank heavily had the same divorce rates as couples by which both spouses weren’t heavy drinkers, suggesting it is the differences in drinking styles that contribute to marital strife.
Over the course of the nine-year study, nearly half the couples in which only one partner was a heavy drinker finished up divorcing, as the divorce rate for other couples was only 30 %. For the purposes of the research, heavy drinking was understood to be consuming six or more drinks previously or drinking to intoxication. The research also controlled for factors such as marijuana and tobacco use, depression and socioeconomic status, which could be also related to marital dissatisfaction, separation and divorce.
“This research provides solid evidence to bolster the commonplace notion that heavy drinking by one partner can lead to divorce,” said Kenneth Leonard, PhD, RIA director and lead author from the study.
“Although many people may think that’s a likely outcome, there was surprisingly little data to support that claim so far,” Leonard said within an interview with UB News Center.
The surprising outcome could be that the divorce rate for two heavy drinkers was no worse than for two non-heavy drinkers, Leonard said.
“Heavy drinking spouses may be more loving toward negative experiences related to alcohol due to their own drinking habits.”
However, this doesn’t suggest other aspects of family life are unimpaired.
“While two heavy drinkers may not divorce, they might produce a particularly bad climate for his or her children.”
The researchers also found a rather higher divorce rate in the event when the heavy drinker was the wife, rather than the husband. But Leonard cautioned this difference is dependant on just a few couples where the wife would be a heavy drinker, but the husband wasn’t, which the finding wasn’t statistically significant.
If this difference is based on further research, one possible explanation could be that men view heavy drinking by their wives as going against proper gender roles for ladies, leading to more conflict, he explained.
“Ultimately, hopefully our findings will be helpful to marriage therapists and mental doctors who can explore whether a difference in drinking habits causes conflicts between couples seeking help,” Leonard said.
The study will appear in the December issue of the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. The study’s co-authors were Gregory Homish, PhD, and Philip Smith, PhD, of UB’s Department of Community Health insurance and Health Behavior.
