Problems and challenges faced by female spouse due to critical alcohol addiction of their male partner

A case study of Punjab

Abstract

Critical alcohol addiction has severely affected the institution of family in different parts of this world. It has disturbed all members of family however, the situation of female spouses in such families has found more vulnerable. They face multiple problems and challenges due to their partner’s critical addition. To validate this fact and to identify some new related facts the main objective of this study has decided to understand how and to what extent critical alcohol addiction of husband ruins the life of female spouse. To reach at this objective, the research questions framed in the present study are; What kind of problems female spouses face due to critical addiction of their husband? Whether socio-economic status has any relationship with problems and challenges faced by female spouses due to critical addiction of their partner?
This study is based on primary data collectedfrom female spouses of alcoholic husband by keeping in mind the sociological definition of alcoholic. For this study, Punjab state was selected and in order to generate the primary data, the methods like snowballing technique, semi-structured interview schedule, participant observation etc. have been used. The study has found that in most of the cases critical drinking affects the behavior of alcoholic partner to an extent that it creates multiple social problems and challenges for female spouses such as violence, divorce, suicide attempts, abuse, role shifting, social stigma and labelling etc. The study also found that these problems are more common among families belongs to lower socio-economic strata. The study concludes that critical drinking of husband derails the life of female spouse which further put an institution of family into crisis.