Impact of Alcoholism of Partner on the Mental Health of Women: Findings from an Exploratory Research

Abstract

Alcoholism is a pervasive phenomenon. Many wives around the world have endured decades of suffering from husbands who abuse their wives and children when they get home drunk. Remarkably, the majority of women stay away from expressing their disapproval and instead timidly adapt to their husbands' behaviors. The present investigation is part of the attempt to understand the factors influencing mental health of women in Kerala. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase a quantitative survey among 300 women to assess the mental health status of women was conducted. Fifty women, 25 each with the highest and lowest mental health scores in the survey were selected for the second phase of the study. The factors influencing mental health of women were explored using in depth unstructured interviews with the 50 women followed by thematic analysis. This study clearly demonstrates how alcohol consumption by husbands has an impact on women, their kids, and families as a whole. Women who live with alcoholic husbands have heavy mental stress and they face several forms of economic, emotional, sexual and physical violence in their day to day lives.