Countries with strict social rules and behavioural etiquette such as the United Kingdom may foster drinking cultures characterized by unruly or bad behaviour, according to a new report on alcohol and violence released today by International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP). The report lists 11 cultural features that may predict levels of violence such as homicide and spousal abuse.

The report, "Alcohol and Violence: Exploring Patterns and Responses," examines the association between alcohol and violence through the disciplines of anthropology, clinical psychology, human rights law, gender, and public health.

"We need to look more closely at the meaning attached to both drinking and violence in different cultures, without assuming that the one causes the other," writes Anne Fox, PhD, a contributor to the report and founding director of Galahad SMS Ltd. in England.

Dr. Fox writes that the presence of certain cultural features can largely predict levels of homicide, spousal abuse and other forms of violence. Violence-reinforcing cultures tend to share the following features: Cultural support (in media, norms, icons, myths, and so on) for aggression and aggressive solutions; Militaristic readiness and participation in wars—societies that are frequently at war have consistently higher rates of interpersonal violence as well; Socialization of male children toward aggression and Conspicuous inequality in wealth. Dr Fox also cites: A culture of male domination; socialization of male children toward aggression; and strong codes of male honor—in general, societies and subgroups that actively subscribe to strong codes of honor tend to have higher rates of homicide as contributing factors.

In her paper, "Sociocultural Factors that Foster or Inhibit Alcohol-related Violence," Dr. Fox argues that efforts to counteract a "culture of violence" and "the male propensity for aggression" should be channeled toward altering "beliefs about alcohol" and "social responses to violence and aggression."