Analysis of Association Is Not Causation - Research Paper Example

The prevailing theory, is one that maintains that alcohol “reduces inhibitions” (1), and that a compromised mental state leads to violent behavior. They are careful to point out that they are not challenging the reduction of inhibitions, but challenging that the theory that there is a necessary relationship between these mental states and violence, and they cite a broad cross-section of studies that maintain this. If there is a causal relationship between reduced inhibitions, and violence, then there ought to be consistency across all cultures.

One of the first challenges they point to, is that there are documented differences of alcohol behavior that “varies greatly” across cultures(2), and thus there has to be something more than simply a “pharmacological” explanation. They argue that it is “expectancy” that explains these differences. . Thus, the 'expectation' of drinking had more to do with drinking than the actual pharmacological effects. Given that there is no strictly biological causal relation between violence and alcohol consumption, they turn to explain how this view had come about within the scientific literature.

One problem they note is the discrepancy between alcohol “blood levels” (3) and reported incidences of violence. Police reports with actual blood levels measured of intoxicated offenders, indicate that while over 50 % of individuals charged with domestic violence reported alcohol as the cause, less than 20 % of these were actually intoxicated as measured by the toxicity of their blood(3). Likewise, statistical analysis' shows too that while reporting of alcohol use in domestic violence instances, the actual use in terms of “immediately prior” to the incidence is significantly lower.

They conclude that there are important discrepancies with the data when they are closely scrutinized. Finally, the authors examine some of the methodological limitations of many of the studies, and conclude with implicit recommendations for further research based on some of the limitations of the existing research. They point to problems mainly to do with equivocation. That is, problems of defining or distinguishing between the types of drugs used(4), what exactly is violence and abuse(4-5), and finally, the very nature of alcohol consumption – how much, and how frequently is alcohol consumed(6).

They argue that these definitional problems are inconsistencies in current research. ANALYSIS: 1. What are the strengths of the article? : The main strength of the article is that they unequivocally demonstrate that the existing literature confused correlation or