Although alcohol is frequently cited by battered wives and the general public as a cause of marital violence, few researchers actually propose a direct causal relationship between alcohol and marital violence. Interviews were conducted to investigate the role of alcohol in the violent marriages of 185 women and the nonviolent marriages of 89 control women. A comparison of the drinking behaviors of battering husbands and their wives to the drinking behaviors of nonviolent couples revealed that men in all groups drank more alcohol than women, while women were more likely to take prescription drugs. The most violent husbands drank more than other men. In terms of specific violent incidents, wives reported that about half of the violent men had been drinking, and that they had not been drinking before the assault. Most women considered alcohol to be related to violence. The results suggest that these women overestimate the contribution of alcohol to marital violence, perhaps as a way of excusing the violence or making the assaults seem temporary. Additionally, no relationship was found between women's violence and their drinking, while drug use in men was correlated with violence. (Author/NRB)