Drinking patterns of women

Women are less likely to drink and to drink heavily than men in most cultures. Those who drink consume alcohol less frequently than men and drink smaller amounts per drinking occasion. Social and cultural factors still exert a powerful influence on the pattern and degree of drinking in women, altering their vulnerability to the development of alcohol problems. Despite social and cultural changes, there is still less social pressure on women to begin drinking and more pressure for them to stop.

However, society is harsh in its judgement of women with drinking problems. They are held in low esteem, are perceived as having deserted the roles of wife and mother and as being vulnerable to sexual promiscuity. Such misperceptions are often mirrored in the attitude of health professionals, who view women with drinking problems in a negative light, as deviant personalities who are particularly untreatable. These attitudes have no place in the treatment setting.

We believe that the role of this chapter is to sensitize as well as inform, and thus to challenge the still too prevalent stereotyping of the woman who has a drinking problem. As for structure, we firstly provide a note on basic epidemiological findings. In the following section a range of factors that can be correlated with drinking problems among women is identified and risk factors across the life course are discussed. Attention is then given, in turn, to physical complications, psychosocial co-morbidity and social complications.