(PS1-C56) Substance Use and Intimate Partner Aggression Among Young Male Couples

Research among different sex couples shows that individual levels of substance use (i.e., alcohol, cannabis, illicit drugs) predicts each partners’ frequency/severity of intimate partner aggression (IPA; i.e., actor and partner effects). However, despite the fact that substance use and IPA are more common among male couples compared to different sex couples, these syndemic health risks have not been linked to one another among this vulnerable population. Doing so represented the first aim of the present investigation, which we accomplish by modelling both actor (e.g., one’s own alcohol use impacting one’s own IPA victimization) and partner (e.g., one’s own alcohol use impacting one’s partner’s IPA victimization) effects. Next, research shows that romantic partners are often similar in their alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug use, and this similarity shows beneficial effects (whereas dissimilarity shows detrimental effects) on IPA -- even when both partners both use heavily. Although this is difficult to reconcile in light of actor/partner effects reviewed above, agreement on substance use (regardless of the level of use) may be an important vector of intimacy, openness, and shared values, thereby increasing relationship quality and decreasing IPA. This mechanism is thought to be particularly critical for male couples, who display distinct similarity patterns and norms of substance use compared to different sex couples. Investigating novel actor/partner effects of substance use similarity on IPA among male couples therefore represented the second aim of the present study. Together, our aims were intended to elucidate dyadic mechanisms between substance use and IPA to support intervention development among an at-risk population. We conducted actor-partner interdependence models (APIMs) using a large (N=934 individuals, N=467 dyads), young (M age=28.21 years), and ethnically diverse (54.1% White, 14.1% Black/African American, 21.8% Hispanic/Latino, 5.1% Multiracial) sample of male couples. Results suggested that one’s own illicit drug use is associated with more IPA victimization (i.e., an actor effect; Est=.24, p< .001), whereas one’s partner’s illicit drug use is associated with more IPA perpetration (i.e., a partner effect; Est=.15, p< .001). In addition, one’s partner’s alcohol use was associated with less IPA victimization (Est=-.08, p=.04). No other significant effects emerged. These results partially contrast with prior work conducted among different sex couples and imply unique pathways to relationship violence in the cultural context of male same-sex relationships. Thus, although couple-based cognitive behavioral interventions exist for substance use (e.g., Fals-Stewart et al., 2004), because they have been developed exclusively among different sex couples, these may be insensitive at best (and iatrogenic at worst) for SGM couples. In the future, cognitive behavioral couples’ interventions need to be developed and modified considering the unique sociocultural environment that subject male couples to increased risks for substance use and IPA. Such interventions will improve the state of the practice in reducing syndemic health risks among male couples.