It is assumed that men drink more alcohol than alcohol, but a new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has revealed that women are closing the gender drinking gap by drinking alcohol more like men.
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Among other things, the study evaluated the number of days a person drinks each month, incidents of driving while under the influence of alcohol, and the number of people who had symptoms of an alcohol use disorder, according to Aaron White, the lead researcher.
Women’s drinking rate catching up to men’s drinking rate doesn’t mean men are consuming less alcohol.
Make no mistake about it, women in the United States still consume less alcohol than men. Other findings in the study include a significant uptick in binge drinking among 18 to 25-year-old women not in college and a significant decrease in the same behavior among their male peers.
White and his team found the percentage of those who drank alcohol in the previous month increased for women to 48.3% from 44.9%, but decreased for men to 56.1% from 57.4% between 2002 and 2012.
“The prevalence of combining alcohol with marijuana during the last drinking occasion among 18- to 25-year-old male drinkers increased from 15 percent to 19 percent, while the prevalence of combining alcohol with marijuana during the last drinking occasion among 18- to 25-year-old female drinkers remained steady at about 10 percent”, White said.
The reasons for the narrowing gap in alcohol use between women and men aren’t clear and don’t seem to be associated with factors such as employment, pregnancy or marital status, the researchers said.
“This study confirms what other recent reports have suggested about changing patterns of alcohol use by men and women in the USA”, notes NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D.
We’ve put together a quiz using multiple studies into the differences between male and female drinking, from quantity of drink to favourite poison. My best guess is that there must be some kind of cultural shift, where maybe women feel more free to engage in the time-honored pastime of blowing off steam over drinks with friends.
American women are starting to drink more and more like men – and men are starting to drink a little more like women, USA researchers reported Monday. There’s definitely more booze aimed at women than ever before, although most of the women I know are just as likely to find it somewhat condescending as they are to embrace it.
“Women physically can not keep up with men, even if they are the same weight”, Glaser says.
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The same number of college kids admitted to binge drinking. Men have also a higher risk of landing in the ER because of alcohol poisoning and to die in vehicle accidents caused by alcohol.
