Larry W. Bennett

Larry W. Bennett argues in the following viewpoint that although there is a link between alcohol abuse and domestic violence, substance abuse does not cause men to batter their wives. Other factors, such as a child’s home environment and exposure to drugs and alcohol, the abuser’s education and income levels, and a need to control other people’s behavior, are more likely to increase the risk of abusive behavior than alcohol abuse, he contends. Due to the interlinking relationship between substance abuse and domestic violence, however, Bennett maintains that one problem cannot be treated without treating the other. Bennett, an assistant professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work in Chicago, has written many articles about substance abuse and domestic violence.

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