Tag Archives: alcohol and women

#BoozyMomNation: The Culture Surrounding Moms and Their Drinking Habits

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The term “mommy juice” may appear innocent and lighthearted, however, taking a further look into the expression, one can see it being quite problematic. “Mommy juice” refers to an alcoholic drink that a mother consumes to cope with her daily tasks of motherhood. We understand, being a mom is hard. Mothers have sacrificed so much for their children and are deserving of mental and physical breaks. But, when did the dependence of wine consumption become the standard idea of motherhood time outs?

#BoozyMomNation

Cultural norms and generational trends can contribute to the hype of the mommy juice movement. You can walk into almost any department store’s home decor section and find paraphernalia relating to this culture. I searched “mommy juice” on Amazon.com and approximately 140 related items came up for purchase. As for the e-commerce website, Etsy.com, approximately 700 items. This advertisement is just an example of how easy it is to find alcoholic beverages and glassware marketed directly to mothers. The Boozy Mom Nation is even easier to find on Facebook. With a simple query, I found groups named “Moms Gone Wine” “Moms Deserve to Wine” and “Mom Hard, Wine Harder”. The normalization of the mommy juice movement desensitizes the consequences of this harmful behavior and increases the potential for binge drinking and the effects it may have on both the mother and her child(ren).

Source: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mommy%20juice

  

Functioning Alcoholic

Women are often found drinking alcohol to celebrate happy events, decompress from a stressful day, or cope with sadness. Mommy juice consumption can consist of one maybe two, glasses of wine. To some, this may not seem harmful, but using alcohol as a coping device can lead to further consumption of stronger alcoholic drinks and binge drinking.

Here are a few harmful behavioral habits that can be a sign for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Drinking to cope with pain or sadness– motherhood is tough, and adding other work and life stresses, doesn’t make it any easier. Women must find healthier coping mechanisms and outlets for their mommy “time-outs”.

Drinking more often- For women, binge drinking is defined as 4 or more drinks during a single occasion or more than 7 drinks in a week (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). When one mommy juice drink becomes two or three more, that harmful habit may be out of control. 

Drinking and driving (with and without passengers)- Although the legal blood alcohol content amount is 0.08 g/dl, drinking and driving is never the answer. Once drinking interferes with your ability to function during the day and take care of your child(ren), it’s a sign that your drinking habits have become a problem.  

If the negative consequences to an individual isn’t enough to take control of their drinking habits, then they should consider the effects it may have on their children. Children are often compared to a sponge; they absorb anything around them. A child may one day adopt the same behaviors they’ve seen their parents perform. If a child grows up in a household with a heavy drinking culture, that drinking behavior becomes normalized. Their coping mechanisms to stress and sadness becomes directly attached to alcohol. Furthermore, when alcohol gets in the way of normal parenting activities, the relationship between a mother and child cannot grow to its fullest potential in the most important times of child development. For example, after one too many glasses of wine, a mom may feel frustrated or not be as attentive to what their child is doing or needing at that moment.

Future of Mommy Juice

So, what should moms do instead of drinking their mommy juice? Let’s start by reducing the negative connotation around women seeking help and wanting to take breaks from motherhood. Let’s provide alternative outlets and support groups for mommy self-care time. Building connections and receiving support from others are important ways to ensure moms and their children can develop a safe and healthy relationship. We should also pay close attention to marketing tactics and be aware of the dangers unhealthy drinking habits have on people and their social networks.  

 

 

Sources:

https://www.necn.com/on-air/as-seen-on/WEB-Mommy-Juice_NECN-459083083.html

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/When-the-Mommy-Juice-Culture-Becomes-an-Issue-459152193.html

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/7-signs-youre-hitting-the-mommy-juice-too-hard

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). NIAAA Council Approves Definition of Binge Drinking. NIAAA Newsletter, No. 3, Winter 2004. Available at: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Newsletter/winter2004/Newsletter_Number3.pdf.

Women and Drinking: The Memes & Some Solutions

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The Memes related to women and drinking – are they tapping into the motivation to drink, the negative reinforcement?

Alcoholism, also called dependence on alcohol, is a chronic relapsing disorder that is progressive and has serious detrimental health outcomes. The development of alcoholism is characterized by frequent episodes of intoxication, preoccupation with alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, compulsion to seek and consume alcohol and emergence of a negative emotional state in the absence of the drug.

Reinforcement is a process in which a response or behavior is strengthened based on previous experiences. In negative reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing, or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus. Memes like “shout out to the liver for handling what the heart cannot” or “if you combine wine and dinner the new word is winner” and a text reading “according to chemistry, alcohol is a solution” are tapping into the motivation to drink. Although they are funny sometime, they are also insidious, since they get inside our head and make us want to drink. Experts says that such memes create a strong effect on the mind of an individual as they encourage excessive drinking and promote alcohol as a solution to problems and are portrayed as a way of ‘’escaping reality”. So, people keep drinking for longer periods of time. Researchers also suggest that such memes encourage unwise drinking and trivialize alcohol addiction.

 

                                                                      

But, there are some methods by which one can stay sober despite all the pervasive messages and drinking environments. The first is the Dory method in which you can remember the top ten ‘bad drinking memories’ where you place them in the back pocket and whip them out whenever you find yourself romanticizing alcohol. One study found that even if you don’t have a time for long work out sessions, just 10 minutes may reduce or eliminate a booze craving for alcohol drinking.

 

There is also motivational model of alcohol use which suggest that individual differences in sensitivity to the acute subjective effects of alcohol, which may serve as a mechanism underlying alcohol reinforcement and the motivation to consume more alcohol during a drinking episode. The results demonstrate that drinking motives are linked with individual differences in sensitivity to the effects of alcohol, which may serve as a mechanism underlying alcohol reinforcement and the motivation to consume more alcohol during a drinking episode.

Women’s bodies also react differently to the alcohol than men’s bodies. That means women face particular health risks from alcohol.According to one study problems with alcohol increased by nearly 50 percent. Among women, alcohol abuse and dependence increased by 83.7 percent. Among the poor it rose by 65.9 percent. because of the increased drinking among women the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the united states also raised. It was observed to be between 0.5 and 3.0 cases per 1000 by the institute of medicine in 1996 but more recent reports from specific U.S. sites report the prevalence of FAS to be 2 to 7 cases per 1,000 and the prevalence of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) to be as high as 20 to 50 cases per 1,000.

References-

 

 

 

Alcohol & Breast Cancer

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The Problem: Alcohol Attributable Breast Cancer

     Alcohol consumption and the effects that it has on increasing the risk that a women will develop breast cancer in the future is something that has been studied extensively the past 20 years. Some of these studies date back to early epidemiological data that suggests that “Increased estrogen and androgen levels in women consuming alcohol appear to be important mechanisms underlying the association.” (Singleton, 2001). According to a study that was conducted in 2012, globally about 144,000 breast cancer cases and 38,000 breast cancer deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption (Shield, 2016). The report stated that a sizable amount of the 38,000 breast cancer deaths were attributable to light drinking which was classified as having 3 to 6 drinks a week. This same study found that the highest incidences of alcohol attributable breast cancer deaths and cases were located in Northern and Western Europe (12.4 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women) followed by North America and Oceania (9.8 cases per 100,000 women). The map that was included in  the research studpage8image429650960y which visually illustrates the geographic distribution of the alcoholic attributable breast cancer cases globally in 2012 is shown here to the right. This map shows a concentration of alcohol attributed cases and deaths in regions of the world that are highly developed. With this research still being relatively new the researchers noted that further research would be done to determine how drinking patterns, age in which alcohol is consumed, and genetic differences increase or decrease your risk for dying from or developing breast cancer. With the growing buzz around this research the question begs itself, how can this information be disseminated to women? Through public advertisements? At screenings? These are questions that should be asked to try combat this issue.

 

 

Spreading the Word: From the Doctor’s Office to Your Bar

     With all of the new research coming out each day regarding alcohol consumption and breast cancer awareness, the next step would be to inform the women who may be at risk. As mentioned in the research study above, researchers found that even being a light drinker (3 to 6 drinks per week) has the potential to increase women’s chances of developing breast cancer. In my opinion, some of the best ways to disseminate this information would be during physicals initially. This will be a very good method to enforce preventive methods of reducing alcohol-attributable breast cancer cases. During a woman’s annual physical, her primary care physician can explain to her the research being done in the field and include information about how the weekly consumption of alcohol may increase their risk of getting breast cancer. For women that may be uninsured, although it may be a bit of a stretch but literature that illustrates the risk of constantly consuming alcoholic beverages and its potential ties to breast cancer in stores and establishments where alcohol is sold could go a long way in potentially preventing women from indulging in habits that may increase their breast cancer risk. For an intervention to disseminate information through bars in liquor stores and bars would probably require some type of policy to be written. It can be expected that liquor companies and any other interested parties will provide all sorts of push back to stop advertising that would hurt sales. If women are more informed, public opinion may put enough pressure on these companies to ensure that they are informing their patrons of the risks they are exposing themselves to.

 

 

Sources:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/194343

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=4b82059a-90f5-4e69-b46b-bd59c573ec7f%40sessionmgr102

The Sad Truth about Women and Alcohol

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In our past few classes, we’ve discussed some exceptionally sad, and very telling, facts about women and alcohol. I will be sharing my views on women’s motivations for drinking (1), the relatively fewer benefits that drinking brings to women (compared to men) (2), and the alarming societal normalization of extremely risky drinking practices (3). 

  1. In the video we watched last week, Dr. Koob, the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the NIH,  explained that women’s drinking is generally motivated by negative reinforcement (whereas men are motivated by positive reinforcement). This means that instead of choosing to drink because they want to feel good, or have fun (like men), women are more likely to drink as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. In other words, women aren’t drinking to have fun, they’re drinking to escape. How heartbreaking is that? Perhaps even more upsetting is the fact that this is not at all surprising. This isn’t surprising to anyone…is it? As someone who has to face every single day as a woman, I am well aware of the significantly higher levels of constant duress, mental illnesses, chronic illness, extreme stress, exhaustion women face– coupled with the much LOWER levels of political, social, cultural, and personal support that women also deal with. I am not surprised by women being motivated by seeking to alleviate some of the daily struggle they face. I am deeply disturbed (as I am every waking moment of my life) by the way women are treated and strongly believe that gender equity and women’s drinking levels are inversely, and causally, related. Make women’s lives less of a constant struggle, and their desire to drink might fade away. 
  2. Another interesting, and depressing fact, also shared by Dr. Koob in Alcohol and the Female Brain is that women experience less of a positive effect of alcohol. Women have a lower dopamine response from alcohol consumption than men do–biology is cruel, I suppose. This could mean that women experience drinking differently than men. This makes sense to me (though I feel like I may be alone on this), because the commercialized idea of drinking looks really fun, but in reality it has really fallen far short. Not because of any bad drinking experiences, but it just is not that great. I’ve been confused in reading “Drink” because alcohol seems to have a profoundly positive emotional response on a lot of women, and it’s been pretty neutral for me. I wonder what the comparative dopamine responses are between people who are vulnerable to alcoholism versus people for whom alcohol never has much draw?

    How the media makes drinking look

    vs. how anticlimactic drinking usually is

     

  3. Finally, I’d like to discuss the societal normalization of dangerous drinking. Many friends in undergrad proudly gloated that they’d had 15, 16, or 17 shots the night before and didn’t throw up. I hear girls fondly share vague stories of nights they blacked out, laughing about how they remember nothing. I hear about a lot of women ‘saving their calories’ for the day so they can drink. This is terrifying to me. Let’s revisit why we think these are acceptable, and change the narrative. This is a problem.

What is the Cost of an Alcohol Meme?

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“A day without wine is like…just kidding I have no idea”, “Clear alcohol is for women on diets”, “Gone are the days women cooked like their mothers, now they drink like their fathers” and I could go on and on.

Or maybe you’ve even seen one like the one, which seems to be saying motherhood is synonymous with drinking wine. And drinking a lot of it. We’ve all seen them, and probably even chuckled at them. It seems you can’t log onto Facebook, or Instagram or whatever your social media platform of choice is these days without seeing some meme referring to women and alcohol. You’ve probably just kept on scrolling or maybe gave it a quick “like” or perhaps even shared it with the thought that your friends or family would get a kick out of it. But what effect is this having on us? Most 14-year-olds these days are on social media, what message is this sending to them?

I’ve seen memes featuring beautiful actresses, the women that pop culture tells us we should emulate. Jennifer Lawrence talking about how she took a shot just before taking the stage to accept her Oscar for “Best Actress”. To an impressionable 13-year-old girl who isn’t quite sure who she is and how she should act but has a deep desire to appear “cool” and funny like J-Law, the message is clear: If Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian are drinking, she should be too.

The sheer prevalence of these memes alone can give us the impression that everyone is drinking. Every mom is finding relief from her busy schedule with a large glass of red wine. It makes it socially acceptable to rely on alcohol to unwind at the end of a long day. Maybe at first, this is true, but as numerous studies have shown, prolonged alcohol use and abuse has a depressant effect and increases risk of, not only liver disease, but even breast cancer as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/risk_factors.htm).

In addition to these risks, many women admit they use alcohol to avoid confronting underlying psychological stresses and illness. But alcohol is not a cure, it only delays these feelings and often when the morning light comes, brings along feelings of deep shame and failure. How many of you have ever woken up after a night of heavy drinking and felt better for it? Memes, advertisements, and making jokes about women drinking only serves to normalize binge drinking and desensitize us to its constant presence in our lives. Maybe it’s time we ask ourselves whether hitting share to get a few likes or laughs is worth our health and our lives.

“Mommy juice” and the Potential Consequences when Moms Drink

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What is it?

“Mommy’s juice” refers to a beer or liquor for a mom who is tired of dealing with her screaming kids. There have been memes, jokes between friends, movies, and ads dedicated to women and their love for alcohol. Sometimes it can feel like there’s no escaping the “mommy juice” joke. I personally came across a meme with a picture of a woman drinking wine captioned “Never give up on something you can not go a day without thinking about”. They are considered “Funny” but they have a considerable impact on alcohol and its use. Another example is the commercial advertisement reported by the New York Times in the spring of 2019, a liquor company that produces a Mad housewife wine offered a Mother’s Day promotion: a six-pack of wine called Mommy’s Little Helper.

                picture by google

 

The biggest switch

  The biggest recent change in alcohol commercial advertisement and memes is that its target has been women. With the aim of normalizing very high-risk alcohol drinking through the internet.  Liquor companies and internet users share memes and advertisements that sadly become viral and embed messages. 

                picture by google

Taking more than 1 drink a day is a high risk for women and cause a lot of health problems attributable to alcohol. Women metabolize alcohol differently from men. Therefore, women are more likely to become drunk quickly than men and health problems often progress more quickly in women than in men. 

Potential consequences.

These memes and commercial products related to alcohol drinking have contributed to a startling increase in the number of women who drink in the US. The increased alcohol consumption pattern in women is no laughing matter.

Another noticeable effect of “mommy juice” is the increase of Alcohol-related deaths among women in the United States (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) 2017). The study found that from the year 2007 to 2017, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. increased by 85% among women while deaths attributable to alcohol among men rose by 35%. That’s about 50% difference!

A study by Agbio, R et al (2017)  found that women are more likely to turn to alcohol for a negative reinforcement effect like to decrease feeling bad, and temporary melt away some anxiety and stress, while men tend to use alcohol for its positive reinforcement — they drink to party, “get wasted,” and have fun. The alcohol companies use this weakness to push their product by convincing women that their products can fix their problems.

Lastly, women need to be aware that the alcohol industry is targeting them deliberately and they aim at encouraging high-risk drinking by using themes like “Mommy juice”, “mommy burnout”, “mommy needs her wine”  in order to sell these products. A call for action by local and federal authorities to combat this problem before it’s too late is needed. I think this is not given much attention by the media and public health as it should. Just like the tobacco industry, I would like to suggest that serious action be taken against the advertising strategies. 

Sources:

  1. Agabio, R., Pisanu, C., Gessa, G. L., & Franconi, F. (2017). Sex Differences in Alcohol Use Disorder. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 24(24). doi:10.2174/0929867323666161202092908 
  2. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) 2017, Alcohol-related deaths Retrieved from  http://www.healthdata.org/policy-report/findings-global-burden-disease-study-2017  

 

Changing Cultural Norms on Women and Alcohol

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“Wanna get drinks” “I had a bad day, I need a drink” “What restaurant has the best drink specials” “I need a drink so I can relax” WOW, realizing how I have used drinking as a gateway brings up the concern, where did these habits originate?  Now, I would never say that I have, or had, a drinking problem. Instead, I would classify it as being conditioned to think that drinking equates to happiness or bliss. Once I have a drink, all my worries will disappear for the moment, I will start to have fun, or I will begin to loosen up a little. I, along with many other women have started to not only drink for pleasure but also as a quick solution to everyday life challenges.  

Women drinking alcohol was once a cultural taboo. Now, it is almost expected for women to drink until intoxication. According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention,excessive drinking by women includes binge drinking (four or more drinks within a two-hour period), heavy drinking (more than one drink per day), any drinking by pregnant women, and drinking by women under 21 years. As women become more progressive and independent, their responsibilities of handling career pressures, raising kids, and financial obligations can become overwhelming. Since alcohol is a depressant, studies show women are using alcohol to relax and alleviate their anxiety.

Alcohol companies have caught up with this trend of women drinking to cope with stress whereas men drink for pleasure. These companies have started using marketing strategies to encourage women to keep drinking in excess. For example, the wine company, Skinny girl cocktail, whose target  audience is women, promises great tasting wine with less calories. They have several taglines including “Drink like a Lady” and “Every girl needs a great date night wine — even if that date night is with herself.” These taglines urge women to drink as much wine as possible even if it means drinking alone.

Not only has women drinking more alcohol changed the culturally dynamic but it has also raised awareness of the negative effects alcohol causes the body in comparison to men. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism  states that women face higher risks of disease than men because women usually weigh less than men and women typically start to have alcohol-related problems at lower drinking levels than men. Excessive drinking by women causes a greater risk for breast cancer, liver cirrhosis and memory loss when compared to men. In addition, women who drink alcohol while pregnant are more likely to have a baby die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

It was not until recently that drinking dependence amongst women have become so normalized. Social media, entertainers and performers are used to promote alcohol products targeting women. Alcohol companies are making us believe that there is no problem with drinking excessively, and this is why so many women are unaware of their addiction or or alcohol harm. Society has replaced the view of “drinking in excess” with “mommy time”, “having fun” or “self care” There’s is still more research to be done to understand how alcohol use can impact women in the future.

 

Alcohol Memes and Women

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If you’re on social media, then chances are you have seen a meme that relates to drinking alcohol. Have you ever thought about how many of these drinking memes relate to women? In particular, wine and women seem to go hand-in-hand everywhere, from memes to marketing tactics. For example, at a bar I used to work at, we started “Wine Wednesday” to specifically draw women into the bar. Look at the meme below, which mentions “wine o’clock”– a phrase I have heard women refer to a lot recently.

 

How are these messages influencing women and alcohol consumption? I believe it is normalizing the behavior, and it seems like there is humor surrounding dealing with life issues by drinking. This theme might make women less likely to cope with struggles in a healthy manor. I was shocked when I saw the meme below–“Never ask a woman drinking wine straight from the bottle how she’s doing”–by how direct these messages can be in encouraging poor behavior. 

 

       

 

One doctor says that these kinds of memes have created an easy way to “relax and reward” in a dangerous way. Instead of dealing with real life issues, such as anxiety, women may turn to alcohol in order to feel better. I also know plenty of women that use wine as a way to sleep at night and choose to consume it before going to bed. Wine is used to “unwind” and is seen as a positive reinforcement–a dangerous cycle women can fall into. A women with a drinking problem may be hard to spot due to the way we have normalized the consumption of wine. 

When looking into the relationship of wine and anxiety, I came across this website for a vineyard that has a page dedicated to how wine induces relaxation and stress relief. What’s the picture they chose for the article? A peaceful looking woman sniffing a glass of wine. The sad truth is that wine can actually exacerbate the feelings of anxiety and stress. This article outlines the effects of alcohol and anxiety. Alcohol is a depressant, and although it may give a euphoric feeling as your BAC rises, however, as your BAC falls, it can cause depressive feelings. Alcohol-induced anxiety is common, and using wine as a way to “unwind” at the end of a stressful day may be counteractive. 

This study looked gender differences and the coping mechanisms related to drinking alcohol. The study found that women with low depressive symptoms were more likely to drink as a coping mechanism. In other words, coping by drinking alcohol isn’t confined to those with deeper mental health issues. This is also concerning because it makes the problem hard to identify. 

More awareness is needed on the harm these memes and messages may be causing women. It seems like there is a huge movement recently to support mental health, and it doesn’t seem far-fetched to encourage people to think about the effect these messages may have on women’s mental health and coping habits. 

Reflections on Mommy Juice

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While I was looking at memes for our class on Alcohol and Women, I was shocked by how many memes reference “mommy juice”. This was a new concept to me. “Mommy juice” is the reference to mother’s drinking alcohol to get through their busy days being a mom. It is used as a coping mechanism for their stress. It is frustrating to see how common “mommy juice” is because this is making it acceptable and even may be persuading mothers to drink when they otherwise would not. Deidra Roach, medical project officer for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, explains “that up until the mid-20th century, it was considered socially unacceptable for women to drink in public, especially to the point of intoxication. So, women were simply less likely to do so”.  Now, with the changing social norms, drinking in public at all different events such as “girl’s wine nights” has become not only acceptable but the norm. Since it is the norm to drink on more occasions and more frequently, it is becoming harder and harder for people to avoid alcohol at any event.

I also find it very interesting that I did not notice these ads and memes before we discussed the idea of “mommy juice” during class. I think part of the reason I was not aware of this concept was because I am not a mother, so I did not notice these ads when I came across them. Also, since these ads are not geared towards me and they also do not catch my attention when I come across them, I am more likely to just keep scrolling or keep shopping instead of paying attention to these ads or items. Also, something I have found frightening about our online environment is that ads will display based on other items you have previously searched for, or clicked on. As an example, when I search for alcohol memes for this class and then later scroll on my Instagram, I now see more alcohol related ads. This shows that ads and memes sometimes display on your feed based on our previous individual searches or posts. Since I am not searching on baby websites or typical mother websites, they are not popping up on my screen. This is a great concern that advertisers pick their audience and prey on their vulnerabilities.

I think we should educate vulnerably populations on “mommy juice” and all the negative consequences that arise when we normalize drinking. Some consequences may be fatigue, and therefore moms may be unable to take care of  the child. It is important that mothers are not encouraged to drink and this can be avoided by not displaying numerous advertisements persuading mothers to drink or making mothers feel like drinking is okay, especially when taking care of their children. Alcohol is never a good coping mechanism and if mothers are educated on the negative effect, then they may be less likely to use alcohol to cope. Also, if these “mommy juice” memes, in ads, on clothing and other products were not displayed everywhere, it would prevent mothers who do not drink from starting to use alcohol to cope.

(Somewhere in, 2013).

 

The Biological Differences in How Women and Men Experience Alcohol Use

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New research has shown that men and women experience drinking alcohol differently. These findings are a reason to pause and reflect on our drinking habits and norms and to ask ourselves why we drink, how much do we drink and when are we drinking the most. Additionally, advertising firms are quick to exploit our weaknesses in pursuit of profit. There is a surprising parallel between the sharp increase in women’s alcohol use (especially high-risk drinking) and the rise of Skinny Girl brand and Mommy’s Night Out wines and others that are specifically targeting the female drinker [1]. While the occasional drink imbibed responsibly in a social environment is not the target of this blog, it might surprise you to learn of the following biological differences of alcohol use among men and women that could be contributing to potentially harmful drinking-related outcomes.

  1. Women and men drink for different reasons.

Depression and other poor mental health outcomes have long been linked to alcohol use and substance abuse[2]. New research suggests that a driving factor for women to consume alcohol is a negative reinforcement where women are trying to hide or mask an underlying stressor. There is a body of evidence that posits that adolescent girls are twice as more likely as their adolescent boy counterparts to experience depression. Adolescent girls who experience stress-related activities might be more likely to turn to alcohol and drugs in early adulthood to cope[3]. Other research has shown that the association between substance abuse and depression is more pronounced in adolescent girls than adolescent boys [4]. While the exact interaction between women’s mental health and alcohol use is still being explored, evidence suggests that women are more likely to drink if they experience some combination of depression, stress and or anxiety or sexual trauma or sexual abuse [5, 6]. These are examples of negative reinforcement, and they are the primary drivers motivating women to drink.  While men, on average, are more likely to be motivated to drink associated with higher thrill-seeking behaviors, lower inhibitions, and other behaviors that can be categorized as positive reinforcements.

  1. Women and men react differently to alcohol consumption.

On average, men tend to have lower levels of reaction to alcohol consumption compared to women. Studies on women and men’s alcohol behavior suggestion that since men tend to exhibit low alcohol reactivity that they may consume more alcohol to feel its effects and gradually this behavior, if sustained can lead to a higher tolerance and possibly dependence [6].  Women appear to react much quicker to the effects of alcohol. Also, studies comparing the effects of drinking in women and men found that women display greater deficiencies in motor and cognitive skills compared to men when both the women and men had the same amount to drink. This same study also showed that as the participant’s continued to drink over several days that the men developed a tolerance and reacted less strongly to the alcohol whereas the women’s negative reaction and increased sensitivity to alcohol became even more pronounced [7]. 

  1. Women face higher alcohol-related health risks than men.

Women who consume more than one alcoholic beverage a day are at risk for numerous health issues compared to men whose drinking patterns exceed moderate levels. For example, when compared to men, women are more likely to have inflamed livers, have increased risk of heart disease, and have an increased risk of breast cancer. Additionally, while there are several differing opinions and advice on how much alcohol a woman should consume when pregnant, the ruling advice is for pregnant women to avoid alcohol entirely while pregnant or even if they suspect they are pregnant to protect the developing fetus. Some of the biological reasons that women experience more significant health risks than men are due to the fact that on average, women’s body weight is lower compared to men, pound for pound women’s bodies contain less water than men, so women’s blood alcohol level is affected quicker, and estrogen levels influence how women’s livers process alcohol differently than men [8].  

In the US and many other countries around the world, it is the social and cultural norm to drink especially at certain functions or social events like weddings, sporting events, and festivals to name a few. While drinking is often deeply rooted in our norms, it never hurts to have health-related information to guide our decisions and occasionally serve as a barometer for when a fun activity turns into a hazard. Women should be aware of the additional risks that drinking poses for them not necessarily to abstain from alcohol together but to continue to drink responsibly if they so choose.

 

  1. Grant, B.F., et al., Prevalence of 12-Month Alcohol Use, High-Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder in the United States, 2001-2002 to 2012-2013: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related ConditionsPrevalence of Alcohol Use, High-Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use DisorderPrevalence of Alcohol Use, High-Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 2017. 74(9): p. 911-923.
  2. Ramsey, S.E., P.A. Engler, and M.D. Stein, Alcohol Use Among Depressed Patients: The Need for Assessment and Intervention. Professional psychology, research and practice, 2005. 36(2): p. 203-207.
  3. Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Gender Differences in Depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2001. 10(5): p. 173-176.
  4. Hallfors, D.D., et al., Which Comes First in Adolescence—Sex and Drugs or Depression? American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2005. 29(3): p. 163-170.
  5. Poulin, C., et al., Gender differences in the association between substance use and elevated depressive symptoms in a general adolescent population. Addiction, 2005. 100(4): p. 525-35.
  6. Champion, H.L., et al., Adolescent sexual victimization, use of alcohol and other substances, and other health risk behaviors. J Adolesc Health, 2004. 35(4): p. 321-8.
  7. Dougherty, D.M., J.M. Bjork, and R.H. Bennett, Effects of alcohol on rotary pursuit performance: A gender comparison. The Psychological Record, 1998. 48(3): p. 393-405.
  8. NIAA. Women. 2019; Available from: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/women.