New Zealand Medical Journal 122(1303) 25 September 2009 : 10-20

This article describes the prevalence of physical and sexual assault in New Zealand and the relationship of such assaults to the perpetrator drinking alcohol. Data came from a population-based telephone survey of 16,480 adult New Zealanders. The survey found nearly 7% of men and 3% of women had been physically assaulted in the previous year, and 44% of these had suffered more than one assault. One percent of women and 0.4% of men reported sexual assault with 45% of these people having been assaulted more than once. More than half of all physical and sexual assaults involved a perpetrator who was reported to have been drinking. Perpetrators who had been drinking at the time of the assault were more likely to be strangers or non-relatives and assaults were less likely to have happened inside the respondents' home compared to assaults where the perpetrator was not drinking. Physical and sexual assaults were also associated with usual drinking patterns by the victim. The findings suggest that in New Zealand more than 62,000 physical assaults and 10,000 sexual assaults occur every year involving a perpetrator who has been drinking. Of these 10,500 incidents need medical attention and 17,000 involve the police. The authors suggest this toll could be reduced using population-based strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness, such as increased prices and restrictions on the availability of alcohol.