The Role of the Bar Context and Social Behaviors on Women’s Risk for Aggression

Abstract

The present study is an initial examination of the extent to which the environmental characteristics of bars and social behaviors that women engage in when drinking in this setting are associated with bar-related aggression. As expected, several environ-mental characteristics (e.g., young patrons, pool playing) and social behaviors (e.g., alcohol consumption, leaving the bar with strangers) were associated with more severe bar-related aggression experienced by women during the past year. These results shed light on the significant problem of bar-related aggression against women and can potentially be used to develop prevention and educational programs.