Key findings:

• Different ideas and explanations link alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV). Whether alcohol use plays a causal, contributory or other role in IPV remains an area of debate.
• Meta-analyses show a robust association between alcohol use and IPV perpetration and victimisation in heterosexual relationships. Women appear to be at a higher risk of having physical IPV perpetrated against them by a male partner who has been drinking than vice versa.
• Alcohol-related IPV occurring in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender relationships is understudied.
• Explanations for why some people who drink alcohol perpetrate IPV are complex. Considering the interplay between broader contextual and environmental influences, and relationship and individual characteristics is likely to be useful in linking models of alcohol use and IPV.
• Systematic reviews have identified a lack of robust evidence to determine whether population-level approaches to alcohol pricing and taxation, community-level policies and interventions to reduce alcohol availability, couples-based and individual-level alcohol treatment, and integrated alcohol and IPV perpetrator interventions effectively reduce or eliminate IPV-related outcomes.