A cross-cultural analysis of women's drinking and drinking-related problems in five countries: Findings from the International Research Group on Gender and Alcohol

Abstract

This study (1) examined patterns of correlations between two alcohol consumption measures and 2 drinking-related problem domains in women from 5 different countries; and (2) tested the hypothesis that the correlations between women's alcohol consumption and social criticism of their drinking would be higher in countries where women's drinking is less accepted or tolerated. Data were from 6 general population studies in Australia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Controlling for age, correlations between frequency and social criticism were slightly higher than correlations between quantity and social criticism in all countries except the United States and Sweden. Correlations between quantity and dependence symptoms were higher than that between frequency and dependence symptoms in all countries. Correlations between consumption and social criticism were not systematically higher in countries where women's drinking was less common. Results indicate that a social deviance model applied to women's drinking problems may not be useful.