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Gender differences in alcohol consumption and adverse drinking consequences: cross‐cultural patterns
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2000
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The study investigates whether gender differences in drinking behavior are consistent or vary across cultures. Data from 16 general population surveys in 10 countries were analyzed, measuring drinking status, frequency, quantity, heavy episodic drinking, intoxication, morning drinking, and alcohol‑related problems. Men generally drank more frequently and in larger quantities, had higher rates of heavy episodic drinking and adverse consequences, while women were more likely to be lifetime abstainers; older adults drank less and were more likely to stop, and gender differences may be shaped by gender roles and macro‑social factors.
Aims: To examine the consistency and/or variability of gender differences in drinking behavior crossculturally. Design, setting, participants: Women's and men's responses in 16 general population surveys from 10 countries, analyzed by members of the International Research Group on Gender and Alcohol. Measurements: Comparable measures of drinking, versus abstention, typical drinking frequencies and quantities, heavy episodic drinking, intoxication, morning drinking, and alcohol‐related family and occupational problems. Findings: Women and men differed little in the probability of currently drinking versus abstaining, but men consistently exceeded women in typical drinking frequencies and quantities and in rates of heavy drinking episodes and adverse drinking consequences, while women were consistently more likely than men to be life‐time abstainers. In older age groups, both men and women drank smaller quantities of alcohol and were more likely to stop drinking altogether, but drinking frequencies did not change consistently with age. Conclusions: A theoretical synthesis proposes that gender roles may amplify biological differences in reactions to alcohol, and that gender differences in drinking behavior may be modified by macrosocial factors that modify gender role contrasts.