The Salience of Intimate Partner Violence to Coping and Social Support for Intimate Partners of People with Addictions

ABSTRACT

Intimate partners of people with addictions experience significant strain, which coping and social support may reduce. They are also at increased risk for intimate partner violence (IPV: violence/abuse and coercive control), but IPV’s effects on coping and social support are unclear. This study tested the salience of IPV to the Stress-Strain-Coping-Support model, using moderated mediation models with 222 intimate partners of people with addictions. Social support and coping worked differently for each type of strain. Coercive control moderated informal social support’s buffering effect for anxiety and depression. Professionals assisting intimate partners should screen for IPV and offer flexible support programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• family
• coping
• intimate partner violence
• coercive control
• social support
• Stress-strain-coping-support model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Subsequently called “DASS stress” to emphasize that it is a strain outcome measure, not a measure of addiction stress.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under training grant T32 DA15035, and by the U.S. Department of Justice under grant R49 CE-001510.