Several researchers have explored the role of alcohol in domestic violence and attributions of blame. To compare the amount of blame attributed to an incident of wife abuse, alcoholic (N=52) and nonalcoholic (N=159) subjects read an account of wife abuse and distributed a percentage of the blame to the man, the woman, and the situation. Nonalcoholic subjects attributed less blame to an intoxicated husband than to a sober husband and more blame to an intoxicated wife than to a sober one. Alcoholic subjects increased the amount of blame attributed to the husband and decreased the blame attributed to the wife only when the husband was intoxicated and the wife was sober. Alcoholics attributed more internal responsibility for the abuse than did nonalcoholics. For the nonalcoholics, alcohol intoxication in wife abuse seemed to provide the intoxicated husband with a socially acceptable excuse for his abusive behavior and a reason for beating his intoxicated wife. For the alcoholics, alcohol intoxication increased the amount of personal responsibility attributed to the intoxicated individual for the abuse, particularly when the spouse was sober. The results suggest a need for further research on other forms of abuse, e.g., child abuse, husband abuse, and abuse of the elderly. (Author/NRB)