Alcohol abuse and domestic violence in Botswana: A case study of Francistown

Abstract

This research is entitled “Alcohol Abuse and Domestic Violence in Botswana; a case study of Francistown”. and it focused on the years 2015-2019. The study was guided by the following objectives: To identify the effects of excessive alcohol drinking on domestic violence in Francistown; To assess the extent to which alcohol intoxication contributes to domestic violence Francistown and; To understand the causes of alcohol dependence that contribute to domestic violence in Francistown. The researcher applied in this study a descriptive approach and by using Yamane’s formula, a sample size of 93 respondents was arrived at, being that of victims. The researcher used convenience sampling to determine the number of key informants. Primary data as collected by the use of questionnaires and interviews while the secondary data was obtained from the documented materials. To analyze data, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 was used. The findings indicted that majority of respondents experienced the effects of excessive drinking in the form of psychological abuse, physical abuse and economic abuse, psychological abuse in the lead followed physical abuse the economic abuse. This was supported by qualitative data obtained from interviews with key informants. Similarly, majority of victims indicated that from the experience they encountered, alcohol intoxication highly contributed to domestic violence. Findings also indicated that stress, social influence and family history contributed a lot to alcohol dependence, which eventually led to an increase in domestic violence. Finally, the researcher recommended that education on the negative effects of alcohol abuse should be done at various community levels every year as well as family enrichment and stress management workshops as a way of addressing the problem the problem at hand.