How Romantic Relationships Influence Alcohol Use

This can manifest in various ways within relationships, such as engaging in risky sexual activities, driving under the influence, or making impulsive financial decisions. These behaviors can strain trust, create conflicts, and potentially endanger the well-being of individuals involved. One consequence of interdependence is that the attributes and behaviors of one dyad member can affect the outcomes of the other dyad member. There is much support for the notion that the behavior of one partner predicts the behavior of the other partner (e.g., McNulty & Karney, 2002) and that measures tend to be correlated among relationship partners (e.g., relationship satisfaction). Commonly used statistical procedures, such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression, assume that the observations on the dependent variable are independent. Furthermore, because most researchers are more comfortable with intrapersonal effects and less so with strictly relational phenomena, actor effects are estimated more often while partner effects are largely ignored (Kenny et al., 2006).

Signs That Alcohol May Be Negatively Impacting Your Relationships

So, your system prioritizes getting rid of alcohol before it can turn its attention to its other work. Changes in your personality can cause you to interact differently with the people around you — and not always for the better. Relationships thrive when you can effectively communicate with each other, but it can be hard to do that when you’ve been drinking. Excess alcohol use can also impair nutrient absorption in the small intestine and increase the risk of malnutrition.

• To the loved ones of someone with a drinking problem, it might always look like the alcohol comes first.
• According to the study, women who had partners that drank more experienced more intimacy but more conflict in their relationships, while men who drank at higher levels had more distrust of their partners.
• Conceptualizing AUDs as occurring more often with males—and the corresponding norms about alcohol use and gender—may undermine emphasis on actual male problems and exaggerate emphasis on female drinking problems.
• Alternatively, you can email us at and we will help you find the treatment you or your loved ones need.
• And even if both parties drink together, they might only feel a sense of connection while the alcohol is involved.

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• This method allowed the study to capture daily fluctuations in cannabis and alcohol use and relationship satisfaction.
• Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to get support if alcohol is harming your life and happiness.
• Couples’ prior history of IPA perpetration did not emerge as a significant main effect and did not moderate any other effects.
• This family member copes by staying quiet and distant, hoping not to add to the chaos.
• On the other hand, you may use alcohol to try to manage the stress and challenging emotions that arise as a result of relationship troubles.

Getting professional help is the best way to combat addiction’s mental, emotional, physical and social problems. Cutting the drinking off before it can develop into addiction can help prevent its devastating outcomes. Attending educational programs can help you or your loved one identify the signs and negative effects of alcohol to avoid addiction.

• This is because it can adversely affect your hormones, emotional well-being, and overall health.
• To treat and overcome alcoholism, it’s essential to address not only your alcohol use but also the alcohol use of your partner.
• Additionally, employees who binge drink or drink heavily are prone to absenteeism.
• The additional responsibilities can contribute to increased stress, leading to behavioral, physical, and mental health problems.

How Does Alcoholism Affect Romantic Relationships?

This investigation further revealed a partner effect in that negativity significantly increased only among wives of husbands who had been assigned to the alcohol condition. Couples’ prior history of IPA perpetration did not emerge as a significant main effect and did not moderate any other effects. Being able to identify the types of alcohol problems will help you have a better understanding of your relationship with drinking. Separate from alcoholism or alcohol dependence, alcohol use disorder is characterized by problem drinking that becomes severe, eventually leading to adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. Family therapy is an effective option to address myriad issues that arise in connection to alcohol misuse.

When a person has a problem with alcohol, it doesn’t just affect them; it also impacts the people in their life.5 Below are some of the ways alcohol can affect relationships of various types. Even drinking a little too much (binge drinking) on occasion can set off a chain reaction that affects your well-being. Lowered inhibitions can lead to poor choices with lasting repercussions — like the end of a relationship, an accident or legal woes. Each of those consequences can cause turmoil that can negatively affect your long-term emotional health. In fact, research from 2019 has shown that alcohol behavioral couple therapy can help participants drink less, decrease conflict, and increase communication between partners.

Moderate and Excessive Drinking Defined

The current research aims to extend previous work in this area by evaluating effects of perceptions of partner drinking as problematic on relationship outcomes, and whether this varies as a function of partner’s self-reported alcohol use. The influence partners have on each other is a defining feature of close relationships (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978). In a committed romantic relationship, alcohol use can serve as a source of fun and pleasure or of conflict and tension. Furthermore, the distinction between these two divergent functions depends at least partly on perceptions and evaluations regarding the quantity and frequency of one’s partner’s drinking and whether one’s partner’s alcohol use is perceived as problematic. This threshold of what defines problematic drinking may differ from person to person and from couple to couple.

Alcohol use can deeply affect relationships, leading to communication issues, loss of trust, and neglecting responsibilities. The effects of alcohol on opioid, serotonergic, and GABAergic pathways in the brain all suggest the potential to alcohol effects on relationships increase appetite 62–65. Given the complexity of the interplay between central and peripheral signals of satiety, more research needs to be performed in order to elucidate the precise biochemical mechanism driving food intake following alcohol consumption.