32% of domestic violence takes place after drinking

Thirty-two percent of domestic violence cases occur after the assailants have drunk alcohol, according to a nationwide survey.

The survey also found that 14 percent of men have worsened their relations with their partners due to drinking in the past year, Shinji Shimizu, a professor at Nara Women's University who led the group that conducted the survey, said Saturday.

The survey was conducted in late 2001 to investigate the relationship between drinking and domestic violence. It is the first of its kind in Japan. The survey had responses from 2,254 people aged from their 20s to their 60s.

The results indicate that violence by alcoholics declines sharply if they are forced to stop drinking with the help of medical treatment.

"Excessive drinking causes a strain on a family and it brings about violence," Shimizu said. "I think we should promote countermeasures against drinking as part of efforts to prevent domestic violence."

According to the survey, 32 percent of male respondents said they were under the influence of alcohol when they behaved violently. Only 8 percent of women responded that they had been drinking when they became violent.

Asked about how drinking hurts them, 27 percent of men and 11 percent of women said their health was damaged, and 14 percent of men and 5 percent of women said their relationship with their spouses or partners had deteriorated.