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Gender Roles, Family, and Drinking: Women at the Crossroad of Drinking Cultures
Abstract
During the postwar era, extensive changes in family structure and gender roles have occurred in Western countries. The aim of this study was to see if processes of change and convergence in gender roles have led to new drinking patterns among Swedish women. Data were collected from a survey conducted in 1979 and replicated in 2003. For this study, data on aspects of drinking patterns and problems were combined with demographics and indicators of social situation. For one of the drinking pattern indicators, the assumption of convergence between the sexes was confirmed. Generally, though, differences in drinking patterns are at hand among both women and men in the same direction. Also, social background factors and demographics have weaker explanatory power today compared to the late 1970s.
... Myös pohjoismaisissa alkoholitutkimuksissa naisia on ollut tapana rinnastaa miehiin ja miehiseen käyttäytymiseen. Alkoholinkäytön maskuliinisiksi piirteiksi on liitetty humalajuominen, avoin ja häpeilemätön asenne humalaan (Alasuutari 1985) ja arjen rajoja rikkova transgressiivinen juominen, jonka kaoottisuus pysyy kurissa ulkoisella kontrollilla (Mäkelä & Virtanen 1987;Pyörälä 1991;Helmersson Bergmark 2004). ...
... Pyörälä 1991). Feminiinisen juomisen on katsottu liittyvän naisen perinteisiin rooleihin vastuunkantajana, hoivaajana ja kontrolloijana kodissa ja perheessä (Holmila 1988(Holmila ja 1992Helmersson Bergmark 2004). ...
... Vaikka miesten ja naisten alkoholinkulutus on siis määrällisesti saattanut joiltakin osin lähentyä (esim. Helmersson Bergmark 2004;McPherson & al. 2004), juomisen femi-Artikkelin tekemistä ovat rahoittaneet Alkoholitutkimussäätiö, Suomen Akatemia (137685) ja FAS (2008-0658). Suomessa aineiston keräsivät Jenni Simonen, Christoffer Tigerstedt ja Jukka Törrönen, ja Ruotsissa Josefin Bernhardsson, Maria Abrahamson, Eva Gunnarsson, Annelie Vernersson & Elinor Månsson. ...
It is commonly thought that women’s increased
drinking in recent decades implies a convergence of
feminine and masculine drinking styles, specifically
that women have been moving closer to men. In this
article, however, we suggest that women’s involvement
in drinking situations has enriched the worlds of
drinking and inebriation and brought greater diversity
to feminine and masculine drinking styles.
We approach the subject by studying cultural
images of gendered representations and particularly
femininities associated with drinking. Our aim is
to find out what types of femininities young and
older women in Finland and Sweden construct in
their interpretations of images of different drinking
situations.
The research data consist of group interviews
collected using the same method in Finland and
Sweden among women and men in four different
age groups (20 yrs, 25–30 yrs, 35–40 yrs and 50–60
yrs) and representing two different educational levels.
Our focus is on how women interpret the stimulus
images shown to them in the group interviews.
We are particularly interested in the femininities
constructed by women, and relate these femininities
to the discussion on the convergence of feminine and
masculine drinking styles.
The analysis shows that women attach many
different kinds of femininities to drinking. It seems
that age plays a significant role in the construction
of femininity: older women in Finland and Sweden
tend to associate the femininity of drinking more
closely to caring and control, while younger women
additionally refer to pleasure, freedom, inebriation and
individuality. In addition to age-related differences,
the analysis reveals differences that stem from
nationality. Based on the analysis it is concluded that
feminine drinking is not converging and merging into
masculinity. Rather it seems that drinking-related
identities are diversifying as women are adopting
traditionally feminine and masculine traits and
characteristics and mixing them up without any fixed
pattern.
Keywords: femininities, alcohol, diversification,
group interviews.
... Although gender roles and equality may have changed in modern societies, gender differences in drinking behaviour continue to be substantial in most cultures [10]. However, there have been some signs of gender convergence in alcohol drinking and in problematic use [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. By convergence we mean that differences between men's and women's drinking behavior (in prevalence, frequency, or quantity) have grown narrower over time. ...
... They may also differ between women at high and low economic levels within a country [7]. Bergmark (2004) suggested on basis of Swedish data that social background factors may play a lesser role for gender differences in alcohol use today than during the 1970s [16]. This may be true for Sweden and other Nordic countries, given the combination of high levels of gender equality and social welfare, but not necessarily for other countries. ...
... They may also differ between women at high and low economic levels within a country [7]. Bergmark (2004) suggested on basis of Swedish data that social background factors may play a lesser role for gender differences in alcohol use today than during the 1970s [16]. This may be true for Sweden and other Nordic countries, given the combination of high levels of gender equality and social welfare, but not necessarily for other countries. ...
Background
To examine changes in men‘s and women’s drinking in Norway over a 20-year period, in order to learn whether such changes have led to gender convergence in alcohol drinking. Methods
Repeated cross-sectional studies (in 1984–86, 1995–97, and 2006–08) of a large general population living in a geographically defined area (county) in Norway. Information about alcohol drinking is based on self-report questionnaires. Not all measures were assessed in all three surveys. ResultsAdult alcohol drinking patterns have changed markedly over a 20-year period. Abstaining has become rarer while consumption and rates of recent drinking and problematic drinking have increased. Most changes were in the same direction for men and women, but women have moved towards men’s drinking patterns in abstaining, recent drinking, problematic drinking and consumption. Intoxication (among recent drinkers) has decreased in both genders, but more in men than in women. The declines in gender differences, however, were age-specific and varied depending on which drinking behavior and which beverage was taken into account. Conclusions
There has been a gender convergence in most drinking behaviours, including lifetime history of problem drinking, over the past 2–3 decades in this Norwegian general population, but the reasons for this convergence appear to be complex.
... In regard to gender alcohol double standards, results of this study reveal the persistence of traditional gender binaries among young people, and suggest a stigma around women's heavy drinking exists both in Italy and the U.S.A. Consistent with results of previous studies in other countries (Bergmark, 2004;Bogren, 2008;Day et al., 2004;Jackson & Tinkler, 2007;Rolando et al., 2016;Törrönen et al., 2020), in both countries, heavy drinking women, but not men, face the threat of being stereotyped and negatively labeled by others in sexual terms. This is important because it confirms there are connections between gender double standards around sexuality and alcohol use because drunkenness raises concerns about their increased vulnerability (Farvid et al., 2017;Kalish & Kimmel, 2011). ...
... In accordance with previous studies in the U.K. and Sweden, our results reinforce the relevance of the stigma around alcohol use by women, such that heavy use may bear negative consequences for women's social and emotional life (Bergmark, 2004;Day et al., 2004;Jackson & Tinkler, 2007). Future research should take a broader perspective and examine whether there are differences in the consequences for young women who don't behave according to cultural and societal "standards" across individualistic (e.g., reduction in self-esteem and personal reputation) and collectivistic-oriented (e.g., social exclusion) cultures. ...
Focus group data from 92 youths from Italy and the U.S.A. indicate that Italians and Americans differ in perceived threshold of acceptability of drinking to excess. Youth from the U.S.A. were more accepting of intoxication than Italian youth, reflecting features of each respective dominant drinking culture. Alcohol gender double standards existed in both countries and were conceptually connected to sexuality. However, the social construction behind such connections differed across the two groups: focusing on harms to the woman in the U.S.A. and the respectability of her social group in Italy.
... Humalahakuisuus ja kyky kestää suuria alkoholimääriä ovat monissa kulttuureissa symboloineet traditionaalisen miehuuden kolmea keskeistä aspektia: rajojen rikkomista, riskin ottoa ja aggressiivisuutta (Lemle & Mishkind 1989, 216). 1960-luvulta lähtien myös naiset ovat alkaneet juoda Pohjoismaissa humalahakuisesti ja heidän humalajuomisensa on lisääntynyt huomattavasti (Tigerstedt & Törrönen 2007;Helmersson Bergmark 2004). Usein naisten humalajuomisen lisääntymistä on pidetty mediassa (ks. ...
... Pohjoismaisissa tutkimuksissa on humalajuomisen yhtäältä havaittu yhdistävän ihmisiä luokkaan, sukupolveen ja sukupuoleen katsomatta (esim. Mustonen & al. 2001;Helmersson Bergmark 2004). Toisaalta humalan tarkoitusperissä ja merkityksissä on myös tunnistettu eroja ja historiallista muuntelua. ...
This article works from the assumption that women’s
emancipation, increased alcohol use and appearance
on traditionally male-dominated drinking scenes in
the Nordic countries have combined to challenge the
masculine hegemony of drinking and brought greater
diversity to gendered drinking styles and in general
added to the complexity of the phenomenon. The
assumption regarding the diversification of drinking
styles is tested in the light of data collected in focus
group interviews. The aim is to find out what kinds
of drinking masculinities are constructed by Finnish
(N=16) and Swedish (N=19) informants in different
age groups as they discuss different drinking styles that
they consider culturally possible for men and women
in different situations.
Masculinities and femininities are approached in the
article as socio-cultural categories that agents produce
for one another and for themselves in different
situations. These masculinities and femininities are
defined as gender representations that are constructed
in local negotiations, acts and processes.
Data analysis is inspired and influenced by semiotic
sociology and Erving Goffman’s concept of frame.
In the empirical construction of masculinities and
femininities, the focus is on 1) how masculinities and
femininities are situationally defined, 2) how they are
connected with storylines that transgress the situation,
and 3) how they are incorporated in or excluded from
the range of gender representations that are considered
possible.
The analysis identifies multiple drinking
masculinities in which masculinity is associated with
creativity, depression, violence, virility, flaneurism,
care, homosociality, business masculinity and
weakness. These masculinities are characterized
by a juxtaposition or intertwining with different
femininities, and they vary depending on the type of
situation, the drinking company and the individual
observer’s viewpoint.
The masculinities identified in the analysis do not
constitute a single coherent hierarchy of gendered styles.
Rather, the broad diversity of these masculinities goes
to show that in Finland and Sweden there exist several
strong masculinities and femininities of drinking
none of which has self-evident hegemony over others.
Thus the research confirms the observations by Holly
Thorpe and Tony Coles that present-day masculinities
and femininities cannot be reduced to any single
power formation. It seems that current hegemonic
masculinities are characterized by local, regional and
global variation, that they are interwoven in a specific
way with age, gender and class, and that they stand in
a dynamic and complex relationship with one another
and with femininities.
Keywords: masculinity, drinking, hegemonic
control, focus group interview
... After a period of relatively strict alcohol policy, Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995. Between 1995 and2004 Sweden step by step adapted its national alcohol policy to European standards, leading to an increased availability of alcohol (Ramstedt, 2010;Källmén et al., 2011). Among other changes, restrictions of travellers' imports were changed in five steps after 2004 allowing practically free alcohol import for private use (Gustafsson, 2010). ...
... Data came from the 1979 Scandinavian Drinking Survey (SDS-79) (Hauge and Irgens-Jensen, 1981), the 1995 Nordic Survey of Alcohol and Narcotics (NSAN-95) (Hakkarainen et al., 1996), the 2003 Alcohol and Narcotics Survey (ANS-03) (Bergmark, 2004(Bergmark, ) and the 2005(Bergmark, , 2007(Bergmark, , 2009(Bergmark, and 2011 Swedish Alcohol Monitoring Survey (AMS-05/ 11) . All surveys are representative of the Swedish general population. ...
In Sweden, alcohol abstention has increased over the last 20 years and consumption has recently decreased after a peak in 2004. To understand the dynamics of these trends the present study aims at estimating age, period and cohort (APC) effects on trends in alcohol use prevalence as well as overall and beverage-specific volume of drinking over the last three decades.
APC analysis of seven cross-sectional surveys from 1979 to 2011 was conducted using cross-classified random effects models (CCREMs) by gender. The nationally representative samples comprised 77,598 respondents aged 16-80 years. Outcome measures were 30-day prevalence of alcohol use and overall as well as beverage-specific alcohol volume.
Trends in prevalence, overall and beverage-specific volume were significantly affected by APC. The period effects of prevalence and overall volume show a small decline after an increase up to the year 2005. Mean beer and wine volume levelled off after a peak in 2005 and volume of spirits drinking decreased constantly. Predicted alcohol prevalence rates in male cohorts (1945-1985) remained generally at the same level, while they declined in post-World War II female generations. Results point to high overall and beverage-specific consumption among cohorts born in the 1940s, 1950s and 1980s.
High consuming cohorts of the 1940-1950s were key in rising consumption up to 2005. Progression through the life course of these cohorts, a decrease in prevalence and drinking volume in successive cohorts seem to have contributed to the recent downward trend in alcohol use in Sweden.
© The Author 2015. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
... The main features of female drinking, in turn, have been a type of controlled drinking that remains inside the norms of everyday life, well-mannered sociability and pleasant ambiance (Pyörälä, 1995). Women's drinking has often been approached from the perspective of their traditional roles as wives, mothers and nurturers in the private sphere (Helmersson Bergmark, 2004;Holmila, 1988). ...
... Thus, although in quantitative terms, male and female alcohol consumption may in certain respects have converged (e.g. Helmersson Bergmark, 2004;McPherson, Casswell, & Pledger, 2004), the feminine and masculine styles of drinking have not necessarily become more similar (Demant & Törrönen, 2011;Simonen, 2012). ...
This article discusses femininities of drinking in Finland and in Sweden. It compares how Finnish and Swedish women define accepted and desired drinking-related femininity. It also asks how femininity related to drinking is constructed and to what traits it is associated with. According to the general assumption increased intoxication oriented drinking among women means that drinking habits and behavior between women and men have become more similar. We rather suggest that women have not only adopted intoxication oriented drinking but they connect it to their feminine identity by shaping it according to their own needs and actions. The analysis is made by using focus group interviews from Finland and Sweden from four different age groups (20 years, 25–30 years, 35–40 years and 50–60 years) and from two educational levels. The data has been analyzed by examining how Finnish and Swedish women construct femininities of drinking while interpreting the pictures of drinking situations. The analysis shows that there is variety of femininities of drinking. Age seems to be an important factor in the construction of femininities; younger and older Finnish and Swedish women relate different traits to drinking-related femininity. It seems that the composition of drinking related gender identity has broadened from traditional hegemonic feminine values to versatility. This relates to the expansion of drinking related actions and the strengthening of drinking related agency among women. Based on these findings, younger generations seem to have a wider variety of drinking related repertoires and ways to interpret femininity than older generations.
Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066359.2013.779676
... Reasons for women's strongly changing drinking habits have been discussed from various angles both in Finland and elsewhere [24][25][26]. This development needs to be seen as part of a more general process of increasing gender equality and change in women's lives, whereby the life worlds of women and men have come closer to each other, and the role of women in relation to men and drinking has changed from a controlling spouse to a drinking companion. ...
... As part of this change, attitudes towards women's drinking have become more liberal. Also the relationship between femininity and alcohol has changed, and it has been argued [25] that alcohol has functioned as a medium for modern gender roles. Also, women's relationships to people outside the family and neighbours have become more numerous, and these relationships have been nurtured more often than previously over a glass of wine or beer. ...
Introduction and aims:
In the past 40 years, per capita consumption has increased dramatically in Finland. We study the core changes in drinking culture over this period by age and sex.
Design and methods:
We used data from the Finnish Drinking Habit Surveys carried out every 8 years in 1968-2008 (n = 16385, response rates 74-97%). Central measures included share of abstainers, frequency of drinking, amounts drunk per occasion and contexts of drinking (location, company, timing).
Results:
Weekly drinking and the frequency of moderate drinking increased among both women and men but proportionately more among women and among respondents aged over 30 years. Amounts drunk per occasion and intoxication increased proportionately more among women and younger respondents. Drinking in home surroundings increased more than drinking in licensed premises, and home drinking increasingly occurred in the company of partners only. Drinking was in all periods heavily concentrated on the weekends and evenings.
Discussion and conclusions:
Finland has become a wet and permissive drinking culture, and there has been a fundamental cultural shift in women's drinking in particular. Increases in women's drinking have meant that men's drinking has also increasingly been brought to homes, as a part of spouses' shared activities, and pubs have lost their property as masculine strongholds. Intoxication has maintained its important position in the drinking culture, and drinking still takes place primarily in the evenings and weekends. If drinking cultures in present-day low and middle income countries develop similarly, strong increases in alcohol-related harm will follow.
... Women's living conditions and multiplicity of roles, together with their alcohol consumption, have gradually changed during the postwar period (1). The associations between these three factors still need further investigation. ...
... One perspective when approaching drinking patterns has been to explore gender differences in lifestyle as well as drinking habits, and to investigate whether there has been a closure of the gap between male and female behaviour (termed gender convergence) (6). A study by Bergmark examined gender convergence and its consequences on drinking patterns among Swedish women between 1979 and 2003 (1). Two new drinking patterns could be seen, in addition to the traditionally mild form of abstinent, female drinking pattern. ...
Earlier studies on women's health and drinking and the contemporary associated risk factors have highlighted the need for more complex approaches in understanding the pathways into women's problem drinking. Research, from both social science and from occupational therapy models, has underlined the importance of deconstructing the often dichotomized way of investigating women's daily lives (such as in paid and unpaid work or in work and leisure) when discussing factors from the daily life environment and their impact on health issues. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between women's patterns of everyday occupation and alcohol consumption using the broader concept of occupation from occupational therapy models. This was a cross-sectional study from the latest wave (2000) of a population-based project, Women and Alcohol in Gothenburg (WAG). The study group consisted of 851 women, aged 20-55 years. Using an individually oriented method, two-step clustering, three distinct patterns of everyday occupations were identified. Significant associations with problematic alcohol consumption were found in the clusters, characterized by lower engagement in leisure activities and a larger amount of spare time. The need for new preventive approaches, including investigating the importance of having engaging leisure activities, is discussed.
... 27,28, 76 Our finding of no gender differences in people criticizing drinking, friendship or social life problems and friendship loss, regardless of social roles, may be partly explained by diminished differences in gender-based expectations. It may be that increased acceptability of women's drinking and normalization of youth culture of heavy drinking, [77][78][79][80] are critical mediating factors for these social changes. 81 Indeed, an increase in women's drinking with a narrowing gap in heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related harms have been found among younger cohorts. ...
Background
Despite the growing interest in investigating social harms from drinking, little is known about drinkers’ reports of these harms and their gender differences among Australian young adults at age 30. We aimed to examine gender differences of social harms from drinking as reported by drinkers.
Methods
2,200 young adults at age 30 with complete data on social harms from drinking were drawn from the 30-year follow-up of the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy. Measures included percentages of 11 past-year drinkers’ self-reported social harms stratified by gender. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between gender and each social harm, accounting for relevant confounding.
Results
More than one in five young adults (22%) reported at least one social harm in the past year. Among binge drinkers, 44% reported at least one social harm. After adjustments for social roles and binge drinking, we found no gender differences on several self-reported social harms: friendship problems, people criticizing drinking, non-marital family problems, employment problems, and alcohol-fuelled fights. However, men were more likely to report spousal threats to leave, drink-driving legal problems and financial problems.
Conclusions
Our findings demonstrate that young adults are still vulnerable to risky drinking at age 30 and the social harm resulting from drinking. Thus, alcohol prevention campaigns should target this age group and include women in their focus. Strategies aiming to reduce alcohol-related harms, such as screening in clinical settings for risky drinking and alcohol-related harms, followed by motivational behavior interventions, could be beneficial among these vulnerable groups.
... In this process, the socioeconomic differences in drinking habits lessened (Boman, Engdahl, Gustafsson, Hradilova-Selin & Ramstedt, 2006). However, as discussed above, the gender differences in drinking have persisted (e.g., Bergmark, 2004;Rolando, Törrönen & Beccaria, 2020). ...
Background
The article examines the interplay between the practices of heavy drinking and exercise among young people. The comparison helps to clarify why young people are currently drinking less than earlier and how the health-related discourses and activities are modifying young people's heavy drinking practices.
Methods
The data is based on interviews (n = 56) in Sweden among 15–17-year-olds and 18–19-year-olds. By drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field, and capital, we examine what kinds of resources young people accumulate in the fields of heavy drinking and exercise, how these resources carry symbolic value for distinction, and what kind of health-related habitus they imply.
Results
The analysis shows that young people's practices in the social spaces of intoxication and exercise are patterned around the ‘social health’ and ‘physical health’ approaches and shaped by gendered binaries of masculine dominance. The ‘physical health’ approach values capable, high-performative, and attractive bodies, whereas the ‘social health’ approach is oriented towards accumulating social capital. The analysis demonstrates that these approaches affect the interviewees’ everyday life practices so that the ‘physical health’ approach has more power over the ‘social health’ approach in transforming them.
Conclusion
As the ‘physical health’ approach appears to modify young people's practices of drinking to be less oriented to intoxication or away from drinking, this may partly explain why young people are drinking less today than earlier. Compared to drinking, the physical health-related social spaces also seem to provide more powerful arenas within which to bolster one's masculine and feminine habitus. This further suggests that intoxication may have lost its symbolic power among young people as a cool activity signalling autonomy, maturity, and transgression of norms.
... To a certain extent, differences in gender drinking norms reflect broader gender inequalities. Thus, when women started to enter the labour market, they also had the opportunity to take on more "masculine" activities (Bergmark, 2004;Bloomfield et al., 2001). However, the changes have not occurred where they might have been expected, nor have they affected all aspects of drinking (Wilsnack, Wilsnack, & Obot, 2005). ...
The study adopts a qualitative comparative approach to better understand how different dimensions affect social norms regulating alcohol consumption. Female and male attitudes towards drunkenness were analysed on the basis of data from 27 focus groups involving a total of 166 participants from Italy, Finland and Sweden, grouped by age cohort (17–20 and 50–65 years) and educational level. Results suggest that gendered drinking norms may be affected more by the drinking culture than by the degree of gender equality, thus providing a possible explanation of why gender differences in drinking are not always consistent with broader gender inequalities.
... Although women do drink less than men, recent epidemiological studies have shown that the gap between male and female alcohol consumption levels is closing, particularly within the child-bearing years 10,12,13 . It is suggested that this is due to men reducing their consumption, as well as a response to societal changes regarding gender equality [14][15][16][17] . However, women are considerably more susceptible to the toxic effects of alcohol, due to a slower metabolism as a result of less water volume and reduced activity of alcohol metabolising enzymes 12,18 . ...
The consumption of alcohol during pregnancy is frequent despite clear guidelines that indicate that abstinence is the safest option to prevent adverse offspring outcomes. These outcomes range from overt craniofacial abnormalities through to outcomes such as mental illness, hyperactivity and social difficulties. Human and animal studies have demonstrated that these neurological outcomes may be due to impaired function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in offspring, resulting in altered basal glucocorticoid tone and disrupted responsiveness to stress. However, little is known of the impact of alcohol consumption around the time of conception, known as the periconceptional period, on offspring HPA function. Therefore, this study aimed to use a well-established rat model of ethanol consumption during the periconceptional period (PC:EtOH) to investigate offspring HPA activity, including behaviours, stress responsiveness and underlying molecular pathways. As alcohol consumption directly alters HPA function, this study also aimed to examine if PC:EtOH exposure impairs maternal HPA activity and related physiological pathways, including renal and metabolic function.
Female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with PC:EtOH (12.5% v/v EtOH liquid diet) or a control diet from 4 days before conception, until embryonic day (E) 4. Behavioural tests were performed on offspring at three months of age to assess mental illness-like phenotypes (utilising the Forced Swim Test [FST] and Social Interaction [SI] paradigm), and at five months of age, HPA reactivity tests (combined dexamethasone suppression test [DST] and corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test [CST] and restraint stress) were performed. In a separate study, basal corticosterone concentrations were measured at 6 months, and adrenal glands were collected for analysis of steroidogenic gene expression. Aged cohorts (12-14 months) were utilised to measure basal plasma corticosterone, followed by the collection of adrenal glands, pituitary glands, hypothalamus and hippocampal tissue for analysis of various steroidogenesis and glucocorticoid signalling genes and pathology. In a separate cohort of aged rats, telemetry was used to asses blood pressure, heart rate and plasma corticosterone concentrations during 30-minute restraint stress.
Maternal hormones (corticosterone, aldosterone), renal function and plasma glucose and lipids were assessed at various stages in gestation. Adrenal glands were collected from dams at E5, E15 and E20 for analysis of steroidogenic gene expression. Placental samples were collected at E20 and genes expression of the glucocorticoid (Nr3c1) and corticotrophin hormone receptor (Crh-r1) measured.
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This study revealed that PC:EtOH exposure resulted in altered offspring behavioural outcomes, including increased depressive-like behaviour in the forced swim test and altered social interaction with a novel rat. Adult offspring also demonstrated HPA hyperactivity, with elevated responses to the DST/CST challenge. Although there was no difference observed in adult offspring, aged PC:EtOH female offspring demonstrated an altered response to restraint, with reduced stress-induced plasma corticosterone and pressor response. Interestingly, PC:EtOH exposure also resulted in reduced basal plasma corticosterone concentrations in adult and aged female but not male offspring. Furthermore, female offspring showed pituitary gland abnormalities and increased mRNA for Nr3c1 and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp901a) in the hippocampus, suggesting altered HPA signalling and regulatory pathways. Adrenal and hypothalamic mRNA expression of genes regulating glucocorticoid production were not overtly altered by PC:EtOH in aged offspring.
PC:EtOH significantly increased plasma corticosterone in the dam prior to mating (E-2). During pregnancy, PC:EtOH resulted in lower concentrations at E5, no differences at E15, and an increase at E20. Only minor changes in the expression of genes which regulate adrenal steroidogenesis were observed in PC:EtOH dams at E5 and E15, with the latter likely to have contributed to the observed increase in plasma corticosterone at E20. PC:EtOH had no impact on metabolic parameters (high and low-density lipoproteins and triglycerides) or renal function (food, water, urinary flow and renal electrolytes) in late gestation. However, placental markers of glucocorticoid exposure were elevated in response to exposure.
This study supports the hypothesis that periconceptional ethanol exposure alters the HPA of the mother and programs sex-specific alterations in offspring in a rat model. Maternal HPA and related physiological changes as a consequence of PC:EtOH is likely to contribute to the HPA hyperresponsiveness, and underlie behavioural outcomes observed in this study. Furthermore, these changes to the HPA may be independent of the adrenal gland, with central regulatory pathways involving the hippocampus altered by PC:EtOH.
This thesis has provided novel and important evidence that alcohol exposure around the time of conception impairs offspring mental-health like outcomes and induces HPA dysregulation. This work reinforces the concept that the maternal stress axis is highly sensitive to perturbations during early pregnancy. As this system is critical in many major physiological pathways, this can have significant long-term disease implications for both the mother and the child, supporting the critical need for education of appropriate health and wellbeing in preparation for pregnancy.
... Such risky alcohol consumption patterns are mainly noted among binge consumers even among men in abstinent countries or where low alcohol prevalence is observed within general population (Assanangkornchai, Sam-Angsri, Rerngpongpan, & Lertnakorn, 2010); (Mutalip, Kamarudin, Manickam, Hamid, & Saari, 2014). However, it is important to note that female alcohol consumption patterns have also increased over the years (Mustonen, Metso, Paakkanen, Simpura, & Kaivonurmi, 1999); (Bloomfield, Gmel, Neve, & Mustonen, 2001); (Bergmark, 2004). Therefore, a better understanding of how gender drinking patterns are evolving over time is equally pertinent. ...
... One glass can be 1 glass of wine, 1 bottle or can of beer, or 1 schnapps or drink." To capture quantity associated with health risks, a high/low dichotomization was used; high was measured as six or more glasses per occasion, a cutoff consistent with research on binge drinking in Sweden and the Nordic countries (Bergmark, 2004;Gmel, Rehm, & Kuntsche, 2003;Mäkelä et al., 2001). However as very few parents report consumption at this level, parental high quantity reflects at least one parent drinking four or more drinks per occasion. ...
Background
Alcohol consumption contributes to health inequalities, but few studies have examined how socially differentiated alcohol use develops across the life course. In this study, we examine how one aspect of childhood socioeconomic position (parental education) relates to two often-conflated young adult drinking patterns: drinking frequency and quantity per occasion. Using a life course perspective, we also explore whether parental drinking patterns or young adults’ own educational attainment might account for such associations.
Methods
This study used longitudinal data from the nationally representative Swedish Level of Living Surveys (LNU). Young adults’ (aged 20–28, n = 803) drinking patterns and educational attainment were determined through the LNU 2010 and official registers. A decade earlier, parents self-reported their education and drinking patterns in the LNU 2000 and Partner-LNU 2000.
Results
Logistic regression models showed that high parental education predicted young adult frequent drinking, while low parental education predicted young adult high quantity drinking. Drinking patterns were associated inter-generationally, but parental alcohol use did not account for differences in young adult drinking patterns by parental education. Young adults’ own education similarly predicted their drinking patterns but did not account for differences in drinking frequency by parental education. Differences in drinking quantity by parental education were no longer significant when young adults’ own education was included in the final model.
Conclusions
Findings suggest that parental education constitutes an early-life structural position that confers differential risk for young adult drinking patterns. Young adults whose parents had low education were less likely to drink frequently but were more likely to drink heavily per occasion, a drinking pattern that may place more disadvantaged young adults at a greater health risk.
... Such risky alcohol consumption patterns are mainly noted among binge consumers even among men in abstinent countries or where low alcohol prevalence is observed within general population (Assanangkornchai, Sam-Angsri, Rerngpongpan, & Lertnakorn, 2010); (Mutalip, Kamarudin, Manickam, Hamid, & Saari, 2014). However, it is important to note that female alcohol consumption patterns have also increased over the years (Mustonen, Metso, Paakkanen, Simpura, & Kaivonurmi, 1999); (Bloomfield, Gmel, Neve, & Mustonen, 2001); (Bergmark, 2004). Therefore, a better understanding of how gender drinking patterns are evolving over time is equally pertinent. ...
ABSTRACT Alcohol-related harms among young adults who consume alcohol at a riskier level do encounter challenges with biological, environmental, psychological and social factors that affect them and the society at large. The aim of this study is to conduct a scoping review on ecological factors; especially the intrapersonal and interpersonal ecological influences on youth alcoholism. This scoping review covered a total of 26 studies spanning four themes: studies on ethnic, gender, family and peer influences. The review comprises of 13 cohorts and 13 cross-sectional studies. Eighteen out of 26 studies, showed significant family and peer influences that were closely related to riskier consumption patterns amongst youth. Whereby, sixteen studies indicated that youth consumption patterns are closely related to their ethnic associations. Studies on gender differences revealed that riskier alcohol consumption and associated risk behaviors are more prominent among female within the age range of 18-25-year-olds. An integrated prevention package that addresses the risk-taking behaviors which are directly associated with health factors among youth is required. Stokols guideline on Social Ecology Model for Health Promotion; which addresses human-environment interactions that involve individual, families and cultural group's prevention and intervention may be a suited approach.
... This kind of perspective is needed as the intragroup variation of drinking behaviour within categories like gender, class or age has increased in the past decades (e.g. Helmersson Bergmark 2004). It has also become increasingly difficult to locate drinking patterns geographically. ...
... In contrast to the more traditional sociological and anthropological work on male drinking cultures, research on women and intoxication was under-developed until recently (Martin, 2001). Women's intoxication was stigmatized, and women, who became drunk, were viewed as not respectable (Bergmark, 2004;Ettorre, 2007;Fillmore, 1984;Warner, 1997). Although the norms and values surrounding intoxicated women have evolved in recent decades, women's intoxication is still typically viewed more negatively than men's (Griffin, 2009;Hutton, Griffin, Lyons, Niland, & McCreanor, 2016;Measham & Østergaard, 2009). ...
Alcohol use, misuse, and intoxication have long been associated with men and masculinity. In different cultures and at different times, researchers have consistently found significant gender differences in drinking and intoxication prevalence rates. However, more recently gender differences appear to be diminishing. Nevertheless, while this may be the case, it does not necessarily mean that the meaning of drinking and intoxication for young women and men are the same. With this in mind, the aim of this paper is to explore recent theoretical developments by feminist researchers to examine gender and intoxication. Research on intoxicating substances and gender has developed considerably in the last 20 years, especially in the social sciences. Much of the more recent research has explored how the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior are critically influenced by societal norms about gender performance. While we are fortunate that feminist research has developed and begun to highlight the contradictory discourses about young women’s intoxication, and critique of neo-liberal discourses concerning the position of women, there still remain significant gaps within these research fields if we are to fully understand the role and meaning of intoxication for all young people and not merely for white, middle-class cisgender young people.
... Although, the TPB is a reliable measure of the cognitive influences of intention it is acknowledged that utilising this theory in the current research does not take into account influences such as: potential physiological dependence [52]; or external influences such as a change of responsibility as women age that demands a changing of drinking pattern ( [53]; e.g. older women adapt their consumption as a result of work and parenting demands, so that frequent drinking is more likely than binge drinking which can impact upon meeting responsibilities the next day). ...
Background
Changing trends demonstrate that women, in a number of economically-developed countries, are drinking at higher levels than ever before. Exploring key targets for intervention, this study examined the extent to which underlying beliefs in relation to alcohol consumption predicted intentions to drink in three different ways (i.e. low risk drinking, frequent drinking and binge drinking).
Methods
Utilizing a prospective design survey, women (N = 1069), aged 18–87 years, completed a questionnaire measuring their beliefs and intentions regarding alcohol consumption. Then, two weeks later, 845 of the original sample, completed a follow-up questionnaire reporting their engagement in the drinking behaviors. A mixed design ANOVA was conducted to examine potential differences between women of different age groups (18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55 years and above) and their intentions to engage in the three different drinking behaviors. Based upon The Theory of Planned Behavior, critical beliefs analyses were carried out to identify key determinants underlying intentions to engage in the three different drinking behaviors.
Results
Significant effects of age were found in relation to frequent and binge drinking. The critical beliefs analyses revealed that a number of behavioral, control and normative beliefs were significant predictors of intentions. These beliefs varied according to age group and drinking behavior.
Conclusions
Previously unidentified key factors that influence women’s decisions to drink in certain ways have been established. Overall, future interventions and public policy may be better tailored so as to address specific age groups and drinking behaviors.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12905-016-0317-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
... As regards alcohol policy, it is safe to say that the traditional Swedish model, based on restrictions and a state monopoly over the distribution and sale of alcohol, has been weakened over recent years, particularly subsequent to Sweden's entry into the EU. Alcohol policy appears to be moving towards a more public health focused model, in which the provision of information on risks constitutes the central element (Bergmark, 2004). Sweden also faces intricate policy issues on this arena in the future, e.g., with regard to the sale of alcohol via Internet web sites, private import and demands for (additional) lowering of taxes. ...
... Ettorre, 1992;Lander, 2003;Richert, 2014). If the norms of female drinking were previously based on abstinence and morality, these strict norms have now become weaker, without having completely dissolved, and in the new millennium they are based on health-related values rather than on morality (Helmersson Bergmark, 2004), and on moderation rather than abstinence (Abrahamson, 2009). In an American context, Schmidt (2014) has argued that the norms regulating middle and upper class women's drinking have dissolved over recent decades. ...
The aim of this thesis has been to study boundary-making in addiction care practitioner’s perceptions of substance use and treatment. The four papers are based on three data collections in Swedish outpatient addiction care: a) a survey conducted in 2006 (n=655), b) a factorial survey using randomly constructed vignettes conducted in 2011 (n=474), and c) a focus group interview study from 2013 (n=30) with a sample of the respondents from the factorial survey.
The analyses show that practitioners tend to draw boundaries between various forms of substance use, with alcohol use being perceived as a less severe problem than narcotics use and requiring less extensive treatment measures. There are also partially varying perceptions in different parts of addiction care. By comparison with social services staff, regional healthcare staff generally see a greater need for treatment, recommend medical treatment to a greater extent, and display less confidence in the possibility of handling problematic use without professional treatment. Despite an ongoing medicalization at the policy level, psychosocial treatment interventions appear to have legitimacy in both regional healthcare and social services settings.
Boundary-making processes are also found in relation to the specific user’s age, family situation, socio-economic status and in some cases gender, with young women’s drinking being seen as more severe than young men’s drinking for example. The boundary-making between different substance users may be interpreted as a sign of an approach based on a professional consideration of the person’s socially exposed situation, which might require more comprehensive support. At the same time, it may be an expression of a stereotyped approach, involving a normative evaluation of women’s behaviour as being more deviant than men’s, thereby having a limiting effect on the conduct norms that regulate women’s behaviour and making the problems of men invisible. To avoid disparities in addiction care delivery, it is of major importance that practitioners are given room to reflect upon the assumptions and values that underlie the assessments they make in practice. Combining a factorial survey with focus group interviews is proposed as one means of facilitating this type of reflection.
... To express themselves freely, young women choose and carefully navigate between drinking venues in the countryside or club scene in the city (Leyshon, 2008). While the norms related to drunkenness have perhaps become less strict for women or are being enfeebled (Bergmark, 2004), it is clear that 'stronger' norms for women still exist. Young women need to control their drinking behaviour, and their drinking is still more often disapproved of than men's drinking de Visser & McDonnell, 2011;Rolfe et al., 2009 (Mullen et al., 2007), the fragmentation and diversity of young men's drinking styles in the United Kingdom (Harnett et al., 2000;de Visser & Smith, 2007) or in Denmark and Finland (Demant & Törrönen, 2011 ...
Aim
Current research in Estonia shows that drinking has increased both among men and women and that the gender gap in alcohol consumption is decreasing, especially among young people. This article will explore from a micro-level perspective how gender, meanings and norms are interconnected, and how these meanings and norms regulate and legitimise gendered drinking behaviour.
Design
The study is based on in-depth individual and focus groups interviews with young adults from rural and urban areas in Estonia, supported by participant observation.
Results
Women's drinking still carries a clear, albeit contested, double standard. Young men, on the other hand, contest the traditional masculine drinking norms and distance themselves from the heavy drinking practices of drinking to intoxication and drinking vodka, which are connected with images of Soviet-era (inflexible rural) masculinity.
Conclusion
In creating alternative modes of masculinity and femininity, young adults stress independence, individualism and being active agents in the reconstruction of their gendered identities. These aspects can be explained through broader processes in Estonian society during the last two decades.
... 2001: "konvergence hypotesis"; ks. myös Helmersson Bergmark 2004). Usein tätä on tulkittu naisten juomisen "miehistymisenä", jolloin oletetaan, että naiset, ja erityisesti nuoret naiset, ovat omaksuneet maskuliinisen alkoholinkäytön piirteitä (esim. ...
... It is considered to be typical that women are able to maintain self-control and thereby their femininity even while drinking (Pietilä, 2001, also Pietilä, 2006. In recent decades, however, women's and men's worlds of drinking have been perceived as showing signs of convergence (Paakkanen, 1995;Bergmark, 2004;McPherson et al., 2004), and during the early 2000s, the drinking of adult women, and especially the binge drinking of young women, has continued to grow (Mustonen et al., 2009, Raitasalo & Simonen, 2011. It has therefore been questioned whether gender equality has emerged in an undesirable way, whether women, and young women in particular, have embraced behaviour previously seen as masculine (Julkunen 2010 with the exception of young women (Pietilä, 2006;Nykyri, 1996;Jaatinen, 2000), only rarely been in the focus. ...
Aims
The article deals with how Finnish women of different ages perceive acceptable and desirable images of female alcohol use as well as gender orders associated with drinking. A focus on women and differences between women is motivated by the fact that women's increased drinking is one of the most significant changes in the Finnish alcohol landscape in recent history.
Data and Design
The data consists of group interviews with women aged 50–60, 35–40 and 25. The images of female alcohol use adopted in these groups are analysed by studying what representations of women's alcohol use and what drinking-related gender identities women in different age brackets identify themselves with as they interpret the stimulus images of drinking situations shown in interviews.
Results
The analysis suggests that women in different age groups have different ideas of what kind of images of female alcohol use are considered suitable, acceptable and desirable. The different generations also express and repeat different drinking-related norms and attitudes.
Conclusions
Overall, the analysis shows that women have achieved greater autonomy in their alcohol use and that the construction of women's gender identity in relation to drinking has expanded beyond traditional feminine values and become more varied and layered. Younger generations thus have access to a wider range of feminine imageries, norms and ways of being women.
... 2001;Mustonen ym. 2001;Helmersson Bergmark 2004). Suomessa naisten ja miesten juomatapojen lähentyminen on kytketty erityisesti naisten humalajuomisen kas-vuun (Paakkanen 1995;Mustonen ym. ...
Artikkelissa tarkastellaan kuinka eri-ikäisten ja koulutustaustaisten naisten ja miesten ryh-missä puhutaan humalasta ja minkälaista alkoholinkäytön sukupuolikuvaa puheessa tuote-taan. Aineistona käytetään haastatteluaineistoa, joka sisältää 16 nais-ja miesryhmissä tehtyä ryhmähaastattelua. Analyysi osoittaa, että naisilla humalapuhe eroaa eri sukupolvien välillä siten, että nuorten ja vanhojen naisten suhde humalaan ja juomisen kontrolliin muodostuu puheessa erilaisiksi. Vanhat naiset toistavat puheessaan juomisen perinteisiä feminiinisiä kon-ventioita kun taas nuoret naiset rikkovat niitä. Miehillä humalapuhe näyttää eri ikäryhmien välillä naisten humalapuhetta yhtenäisemmältä. Suuri osa miehistä tuottaa juomisessa masku-liinisuutta keskustelemalla humalasta avoimesti ja häpeilemättä. Nuoret korkeasti koulutetut miehet puhuvat humalasta kuitenkin eri tavalla karttamalla humalajuomista ja korostamalla itsekontrollia. Näin analyysi kertoo naisten ja miesten humalapuheen ja juomisen sukupuo-likuvien moninaisuudesta. A lkoholinkäytössä on eri kulttuu-reissa havaittu eroja sukupuol-ten välillä (Holmila & Raitasalo 2005). Erot eivät liity vain kulutetun alkoholin määrään ja juomistiheyteen, vaan myös muihin kulttuurisiin tapoihin ja käytän-töihin, joihin alkoholin käyttö nivou-tuu (Wilsnack & Wilsnack 1997). Viime vuosikymmeninä keskustelu juomisen konvergenssista sukupuolten välillä on voimistunut. Naisten ja miesten alko-holinkäytön on havaittu 2000-luvul-la lähentyneen (Bloomfield ym. 2001; Mustonen ym. 2001; Helmersson Berg-mark 2004). Suomessa naisten ja miesten juomatapojen lähentyminen on kytketty erityisesti naisten humalajuomisen kas-vuun (Paakkanen 1995; Mustonen ym. 2001; Mustonen ym. 2009).
... The legal age for purchasing and consuming alcohol in licensed premises coincides with the attainment of adult status. Moreover, learning and 'experimenting' with alcohol is understood as a normal part of 'growing up' (Pape and Hammer 1996;Barnes-Powell 1997;MacAskill et al. 2001;Coleman and Cater 2003;Bergmark 2004;Rúdólfsdóttir and Morgan 2009 Noting that the numbers of young people who abstain from alcohol or only drink occasionally has increased, Measham (2008) suggests a 'polarisation' of drinking patterns. In explanation of these trends, some researchers have suggested that the current social status of young adulthood (as an in between state with social roles and identities still in formation) lends itself well to the use of substances such as alcohol in an experimental manner (Banister and Piacentini 2008). ...
... Nordic epidemiological studies have shown that even though women's drinking has increased considerably in recent decades, drinking venues in Finland and Sweden are still dominated by traditional masculine heavy drinking, which unites people across class divisions, generational chasms and gender differences (Helmersson Bergmark, 2004;Mustonen, Mäkelä, Metso, & Simpura, 2001). On the other hand, qualitative studies have suggested that the meaning and purposes of heavy drinking have varied across different groups and changed over time. ...
This article deals with masculinities in drinking by analysing how focus groups from Sweden and Finland discuss male and female drinking in diverse drinking situations. It argues that women's strengthened independency in working life, their increased drinking in domestic and public settings, and their entrance into drinking situations that used to be male dominated have challenged the cultural domination of traditional masculinity in drinking and made drinking styles a more diverse and heterogeneous phenomenon within and across gender groups. The analysis shows that the focus groups construct masculinities in which manhood is associated with creativity, depression, violence, virility, flâneurism, nurture, homosociability, business masculinity and weakness. These masculinities oppose, interlace or intermingle with femininities and change the shape depending on the situation, drinking company and the perspective of the viewer. Their broad spectrum shows that, in Finland and Sweden, there are multiple independent and strong drinking masculinities and femininities, none of which is given a self-evident hegemony over the others. Thus, the study points out that the masculinities and femininities of today are not reducible to any single hierarchy of dominant and subordinate masculinities. For the current hegemonic masculinities, it seems to be typical that they vary locally, regionally and globally, intersect in specific ways with class, age and generation, and form multidimensional, paradoxical and tension-driven relationships with each other and with femininities.
Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066359.2013.785533
... On the other hand, growing expectations of companionate partnerships, and of male participation in child-raising, may have resulted in pressure for men to reduce their drinking. However, there seems to be considerable divergence among developed countries in the extent to which male and female consumption levels have converged (Bloomfield et al. 2001;Bergmark 2004;McPherson et al. 2004). ...
The term ‘saturation’ has often been used when alcohol consumption in a region stays the same despite there having been reason to expect an increase, e.g. after a decrease of taxation. However, the term ‘saturation’ has been used only descriptively, and in different ways. We therefore propose a wider-ranging framework for understanding and explaining trends in alcohol consumption, illustrating the operation of the factors with historical or contemporary examples. In the framework, we include not only taxes and other alcohol controls, but also situational and other norms on drinking and intoxication, competing responsibilities and attractions that demand or favour sobriety, structural changes, external influences and the range of societal or cultural responses to alcohol problems.
... Considerable evidence from both in vivo and in vitro studies, indicate that males and females have a different alcohol drinking behaviour. However, in some societies, gender differences in drinking behaviour have reduced until an overlapping: nowadays, in fact, women tend to perform traditionally male roles and this has also encouraged women to increase their drinking36373839404142 . Consequently , researchers and health practitioners are drawing their attention to the risks associated with drinking behaviour among women. ...
Alcohol abuse is a substantial and growing health problem in Western societies. In the last years in vivo and in vitro studies have suggested that males and females display a different alcohol drinking behaviour, with swingeing differences not only in the propensity for alcohol use but also in the metabolic and behavioural consequences. In this study we investigated, in adult female rats, ethanol self-administration and preference pattern using a 3-bottle paradigm with water, 10% ethanol solution, and white wine (10%, v/v), along a four-week period. The influence of alcohol free-access on explorative behaviour in the open field (OF), and on spatial learning and reference memory in the Morris water maze (MWM) were also evaluated. Our results indicate that: (i) female rats show a higher preference for alcohol, in the first two weeks of the paradigm, displaying a higher consumption of 10% ethanol solution than white wine; in the last two weeks, they reduce their alcoholic preference, drinking the same moderate amounts of the two alcoholic beverages; (ii) at the fourth week of the free-access paradigm rats show a lower explorative behaviour in the open field and a worsening in spatial memory retention in the Morris water maze. In conclusion our data suggest that, despite the ability to self-regulate alcohol intake, female rats suffer from relevant impairments in spatial memory retention and cognitive flexibility, displaying a sexually dimorphic modification in the adaptive strategies.
... 37,38 Also a narrowing of the gender gap between men's and women's drinking had been identified in Denmark, 39 Finland, 40 the Netherlands, 41 Norway 42 and Sweden. 43 With both smoking and drinking, similar factors are at work in higher income countries regarding the adoption of such behaviours by women. First, women of higher SES or occupationally active women adopt behaviours of men and then they diffuse to all classes of women. ...
Background:
International comparisons of social inequalities in alcohol use have not been extensively investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of country-level characteristics and individual socio-economic status (SES) on individual alcohol consumption in 33 countries.
Methods:
Data on 101,525 men and women collected by cross-sectional surveys in 33 countries of the GENACIS study were used. Individual SES was measured by highest attained educational level. Alcohol use measures included drinking status and monthly risky single occasion drinking (RSOD). The relationship between individuals' education and drinking indicators was examined by meta-analysis. In a second step the individual level data and country data were combined and tested in multilevel models. As country level indicators we used the Purchasing Power Parity of the gross national income, the Gini coefficient and the Gender Gap Index.
Results:
For both genders and all countries higher individual SES was positively associated with drinking status. Also higher country level SES was associated with higher proportions of drinkers. Lower SES was associated with RSOD among men. Women of higher SES in low income countries were more often RSO drinkers than women of lower SES. The opposite was true in higher income countries.
Conclusion:
For the most part, findings regarding SES and drinking in higher income countries were as expected. However, women of higher SES in low and middle income countries appear at higher risk of engaging in RSOD. This finding should be kept in mind when developing new policy and prevention initiatives.
... RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .02. 4 Alcohol consumption of the sexes is beginning to converge through an increase in girls' and women's drinking in some of the alcohol measures used and some of the countries studied, for example in Finland (Bloomfield et al., 2001), Sweden (Bergmark, 2004), the USA (Keyes et al., 2008), andNew Zealand (McPherson, Casswell, &Pledger, 2004), and already seems to have converged in the UK (cf. Plant, 2008). ...
This study applied an extended theory of planned behavior
to test whether psychological variables mediate sex differences in alcohol consumption in social contexts.
Questionnaires of 300 young adults (urban, mean age 25 years, 49% female) were collected in 2007 prior to a sociable drinking occasion; consumption data were obtained through telephone interviews thereafter. The multiple-path mediation model was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Sex differences in alcohol consumption, which were considerable, were partly mediated by the significant specific indirect effects of subjective norms through intention and of self-efficacy through both intention and willingness. Body weight was not a significant mediator. Limitations are noted and implications for future research are discussed.
... Since 1982, the reports show a fluctuation in women's proportions of between 28% and 33% (Drogutvecklingen in Sverige 2000). Bergmark (2004) found evidence for gender convergence in Sweden for one of several drinking pattern indicators; generally, changes in drinking patterns were in the same direction for both men and women. Norwegian data on women's proportion of drinking are available from the 1970s onwards. ...
The paper discusses the kinds of reasoning that have been presented as possible mechanisms and reasons for gender differences in alcohol consumption.
An overview of the existing literature from different countries is presented.
The existing studies provide a picture of great cultural variance in patterns of alcohol use among men and women. The gender differences in drinking behaviour have been shown to be linked with many aspects of biological differences between men and women leading to women's greater vulnerability to alcohol, of women's and men's differing needs, reasons and motivations in relation to drinking, of gender-specific roles in other areas of life and of ways in which societies regulate peoples' behaviour, often giving women the role of warden or moderator of others' drinking.
The gender differences in drinking behaviour continue to be considerable and are found in all cultures studied so far. Several studies have argued for reasons underlying these differences, but they still remain largely unexplained.
This study aims to explore the relationship between media use and Chinese residents’ attitudes toward acceptance of premarital cohabitation (AAPC). We collected data from a national Chinese survey (N = 10,968). The results demonstrated that greater traditional media use was associated with worse AAPC, whereas Internet use was associated with better AAPC. We also found that individualistic orientation could mediate the relationship between traditional media and Internet use and AAPC. Traditional gender role beliefs showed disparate moderating roles in the influence of traditional media and internet use on AAPC. The implications for family therapy practice were discussed.
Aim
The point of departure of this article is a campaign undertaken during spring 2003 by the Swedish NGO Föräldraföreningen Mot Narkotika (Parents Against Narcotics). The organisation started in 1968 as a group of parents getting together and offering each other mutual support as well as carrying on an open house enterprise for misusers in an apartment in Stockholm, the organisation has now become an important participant in Swedish official drug discourse. The campaign in question was directed towards all parents in Sweden with children born in 1991. The purpose of this study is to analyse how FMN as an important actor in Swedish drug policy talks about youth, alcohol and drugs through their campaign and how the subject positions ‘teenager’ and ‘parent’, are established through this talk.
■ Method
The analysis of the campaign material centres on discussing what properties are linked to these subject positions, how parents and youth/teenagers are described.
■ Results and Conclusion
Normal adolescence tends to be seen as never involving drug use and there is a tendency to see the relationship between teenagers and their parents as a relationship characterized by inherent conflict and hostility, sometimes manifested in metaphorical terms suggestive of war. The conceivable consequences of this, as well as of other central divisions in the data – such as the nuclear family as an inherently good unit and misuse as choice – are discussed in the article.
This article presents an analysis of alcohol-related
advertisements published in Swedish women’s
magazines from the 1960s to the 2000s (n=1,079). In
addition to alcohol advertisements proper, the research
data include advertisements where alcohol appears as
a secondary item. The advertisements are approached
and analysed as performances in which gender is made
visible “here and now” by placing women in particular
subject positions. The aim is to find out what kind
of drinking-related subject positions have appeared
as acceptable and desirable in women’s magazine
advertisements over the past few decades, how those
positions have changed and shifted as we move closer
to the present day, and how these changes reflect the
shifting borderline between the private and public
domain. The analysis draws attention to how the
subject positions appearing in the advertisements are
repeatedly attached to pleasure (desire), the physical
body (sex) and social roles, norms and lifestyles
(gender). The assumption informing the analysis is
that there is no natural, causal continuity between
desire, sex and gender, which means that the way these
elements are interwoven varies over time and place. A
parallel analysis conducted with a similar dataset from
Finland provides a useful point of comparison and
makes it easier to identify culturally specific elements.
The analysis reveals both continuity and variability
in alcohol-related advertising in Swedish women’s
magazines. In the 1960s alcohol-related advertisements
repeatedly positioned women in the private domain
to represent the traditional norms of the “housewife
contract”, or outside the home to represent the new
gender expectations of the “equality contract”. As we
draw closer to the present day, the nature of these
subject positions begins to change. We discover that
women’s equality, freedom and independence do not
increase linearly, nor does the home or the private
domain become gender neutral. On the contrary, it
seems that the traditional gender system is persistently
reproduced. A comparison of the Swedish and Finnish
material reveals some intriguing similarities and
differences in women’s subject positions.
KEYWORDS: alcohol, advertisement, women’s
magazines, Sweden
Why do people eat and drink as they do? This complex question is of great interest to both the academic and industrial world. In recent years, a change of consumption has been noticed in several countries with an increase in interest for traditional and craft products. This is the case, for example, for the beer sector, going from a beer category dominated by one style to a wider range of options of industrial beers and to less commercial options such as craft beers. A change in patterns of consumption is usually an indicator that the perception towards the product is changing. In this study, the objective is to understand the impact of gender (men versus women) and type of consumption (craft versus industrial beer) on mental beer representations. Four groups of participants were asked to visually sort a set of beer in the presence of brand and packaging. The results show both similarities and differences in the categorization made by each group of consumers. Overall, participants agreed more on their categorization of industrial beers than they did with craft beers. Gender differences were perceived in the sorting task especially in terms of the number of groups used to sort beers, more groups in men; but also in the words used to describe beers. When comparing the results across women and men, it was seen that the latter sort the beers based on previous knowledge (cognitive dimension) while women rely more on the affective dimension (like - do not like) to sort the beers. An interaction effect was also found between gender and type of consumption which highlights the complex relationship that consumers have towards beers.
Objective
Historically, alcohol use and related harms are more prevalent in men than in women. However, emerging evidence suggests the epidemiology of alcohol use is changing in younger cohorts. The current study aimed to systematically summarise published literature on birth cohort changes in male-to-female ratios in indicators of alcohol use and related harms.
Methods
We identified 68 studies that met inclusion criteria. We calculated male-to-female ratios for 3 broad categories of alcohol use and harms (any alcohol use, problematic alcohol use and alcohol-related harms) stratified by 5-year birth cohorts ranging from 1891 to 2001, generating 1568 sex ratios. Random-effects meta-analyses produced pooled sex ratios within these 3 categories separately for each birth cohort.
Findings
There was a linear decrease over time in the sex ratio for all 3 categories of alcohol use and related harms. Among those born in the early 1900s, males were 2.2 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.5) times more likely than females to consume alcohol, 3.0 (95% CI 1.5 to 6.0) times more likely to drink alcohol in ways suggestive of problematic use and 3.6 (95% CI 0.4 to 30.3) times more likely to experience alcohol-related harms. Among cohorts born in the late 1900s, males were 1.1 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.2) times more likely than females to consume alcohol, 1.2 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.4) times more likely to drink alcohol in ways suggestive of problematic use and 1.3 (95% CI 1.2 to 1.3) times more likely to experience alcohol-related harms.
Conclusions
Findings confirm the closing male–female gap in indicators of alcohol use and related harms. The closing male–female gap is most evident among young adults, highlighting the importance of prospectively tracking young male and female cohorts as they age into their 30s, 40s and beyond.
AIMS: The article focuses on what kind of drinking-related subject positions have appeared as acceptable and desirable in women's magazine advertisements over the past few decades, how those positions have changed and shifted as we move closer to the present day, and how these changes reflect the shifting borderline between the private and public domain. MATERIAL - The material consists of alcohol-related advertisements published in Swedish women's magazines from the 1960s to the 2000s (n=1,079). METHOD - The advertisements are approached and analysed as performances in which gender is made visible "here and now" by placing women in particular subject positions. The analysis draws attention to how the subject positions appearing in the advertisements are repeatedly attached to pleasure (desire), the physical body (sex) and social roles, norms and lifestyles (gender). RESULTS: The analysis reveals both continuity and variability in alcohol-related advertising in Swedish women's magazines. In the 1960s alcohol-related advertisements repeatedly positioned women in the private domain to represent the traditional norms of the "housewife contract", or outside the home to represent the new gender expectations of the "equality contract". As we draw closer to the present day, the nature of these subject positions begins to change. CONCLUSIONS: Women's equality, freedom and independence do not increase linearly, nor does the home or the private domain become gender neutral. On the contrary, it seems that the traditional gender system is persistently reproduced. A comparison of the Swedish and Finnish material reveals some intriguing similarities and differences in women's subject positions.
Over the years, use of alcohol, excessive and prolonged, has been associated with various health hazards. With increasing clinical experience and research in the area, the association has become stronger and progressively more alarming. The evidence from different treatment settings viz. the outpatient department, inpatient setup, emergency department, and the consultation liaison services has linked the use of alcohol with a wide array of hazards to the physical and the psychological health of the users. The impact on psychological health extends beyond the users of alcohol to involve caregivers and other family members of users. Alcohol consumption is the leading risk factor for disease burden in low-mortality developing countries and the third largest risk factor in developed countries. Added to this is the fact that a significant proportion of those needing the help of deaddiction service providers and of mental health professionals present to various other departments including medicine, surgery, gastroenterology, nephrology, and cardiology, among others. We present here a comprehensive review of the impact of alcohol use on health. We have reviewed the relevant literature from south Asian countries using Pubmed search. In addition, other information sources such as Cork Bibliography, published monographs, and study reports have been included in the review.
AIM
While gender differences in substance use/problems have been found to be smaller in more gender-equal countries such as Sweden, gender-specific norms still prevail, and women's (mis)use continues to be more condemned than men's. This article analyses and discusses similarities and differences between the sexes in alcohol and drug treatment in terms of men's and women's treatment experiences, consumption/problems, social situation, and life-domain problems.
METHOD
1865 respondents were interviewed (structured interview) at the beginning of a new treatment episode in 2000–2002 in Stockholm County (sample representative of those starting a new treatment episode for alcohol or drug problems in Stockholm County). Responses are cross-tabulated by sex and multivariate logistic regression is used to predict whether men or women have more severe problems in various life domains of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI composite scores).
Results
Bivariate analyses showed that women and men differ significantly in their treatment experiences. Women are more likely to have contact with mental health services, whereas men tend to deal more with the criminal justice system. The sexes do not differ in alcohol and drug problem severity, but women are more likely to have problems with pharmaceuticals. In contrast to the hypothesis, it turned out that men, not women, are more marginalised as concerns housing, income, family situation, lack of friends. Women report more problems related to family, social life and mental/physical health, while men report higher criminality and financial problems.
Conclusions
There are no gender differences among the clients in the treatment system when it comes to substance problem severity but differences occur concerning the clients’ social situation and different life-domain problems. As men are more socially exposed a focus on women may obscure problems among men.
Aims
There are many grey zones between work and leisure time, where colleagues drink together. Managers are more often involved in grey-zone situations than other employees, and the managerial arena is dominated by men. What is the significance of female managers’ visibility in their understanding of their own consumption of alcohol? What leads female managersto moderate their work-related alcohol consumption?
Data and Methods
To capture the female managers’ perspectives, we conducted 13 in-depth interviews. The female managers represented various kinds of work within care or nursing, media or publishing, public administration and commodity trading.
Results
The female managers’ reflections and experiences of consuming alcohol in grey zones explain how their heightened visibility as women leads them to moderate their alcohol consumption. Three themes were especially salient: (1) need to be in control, (2) concern about stigmatisation, and (3) life stages marked with caring tasks.
Conclusions
The results show the importance of external factors in work-related drinking. Women's visibility is significant in relation to cultural dimensions, moderating work-related drinking even when women are managers. The women place demands upon themselves based on their own conceptions of others’ expectations of female managers.
Based on a summary and discussion of our previous studies of media portrayals of gender and alcohol in relation to the general, societal discourses of risk and pleasure, we aim to develop the gender theoretical understanding of alcohol as a health issue. We argue that even though the media provide various implicit or explicit instructions for women on how to act, both warnings and encouragements to drink are framed within basic gendered assumptions that concern women's dealing with alcohol. Because of this, the discourses that construct women's drinking as either risky or pleasurable are in fact not separate, but rather two sides of the same coin. Drawing on this analysis, we argue that much of the research on alcohol consumption and sex difference – and in particular on women's drinking – lacks in its understanding of the gendered ideas and assumptions that frame and influence these practices.
Drinking in Swedish women's magazines’ advertisements from the 1960s to the 2000s
AIMS
The article focuses on what kind of drinking-related subject positions have appeared as acceptable and desirable in women's magazine advertisements over the past few decades, how those positions have changed and shifted as we move closer to the present day, and how these changes reflect the shifting borderline between the private and public domain.
MATERIAL
The material consists of alcohol-related advertisements published in Swedish women's magazines from the 1960s to the 2000s (n=1,079).
METHOD
The advertisements are approached and analysed as performances in which gender is made visible “here and now” by placing women in particular subject positions. The analysis draws attention to how the subject positions appearing in the advertisements are repeatedly attached to pleasure (desire), the physical body (sex) and social roles, norms and lifestyles (gender).
Results
The analysis reveals both continuity and variability in alcohol-related advertising in Swedish women's magazines. In the 1960s alcohol-related advertisements repeatedly positioned women in the private domain to represent the traditional norms of the “housewife contract”, or outside the home to represent the new gender expectations of the “equality contract”. As we draw closer to the present day, the nature of these subject positions begins to change.
Conclusions
Women's equality, freedom and independence do not increase linearly, nor does the home or the private domain become gender neutral. On the contrary, it seems that the traditional gender system is persistently reproduced. A comparison of the Swedish and Finnish material reveals some intriguing similarities and differences in women's subject positions.
This study examines young people's discussions about alcohol in an Internet chat room. I study how alcohol is meaningful to the young people through specifically focusing their understandings of the concepts control/loss of control, conscientiousness and maturity. I also study what relations of power are constructed among them. The results point to four different lines of reasoning about alcohol: the ‘teetotaller argument’, the ‘age-distinction argument’, the ‘moderate drinking argument’ and the ‘getting drunk argument’. From each of these lines of reasoning to the next, there is a shift in the definition of ‘the Others’—of those who are said to be immature. In three of the lines of reasoning—the teetotaller argument, the moderate drinking argument and the getting drunk argument—the young people describe the characteristics of what for them appears as an ideal person with ideal views on alcohol consumption and intoxication: the strong person, the competent drinker and the authentic person. In the concluding section of the paper, I discuss and compare these different lines of reasoning with each other and with previous research on young people and drinking.
Drawing on a qualitative analysis of Swedish newspaper debates in 1979 and 1995, this article examines how Swedish newspapers refer to biological sex difference as central to drinking practices. The study shows that women are a special category of concern in debate about gender and drinking in both 1979 and 1995. Further, it shows that Swedish newspapers draw upon biology in different ways in the two years. In 1979, debate about drinking during pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is central and newspapers link biomedical research on FAS to the moral idea that mothers do anything to avoid harm to children. In 1995, debate about girls' drinking habits is central and newspapers link sex hormones and neurotransmitters to the moral idea that girls shouldn't “drink like men.” These differences are discussed in the context of Swedish media interest in evolutionary psychology and biomedical solutions to alcohol problems during the 1990s.
Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 700–706 Women’s experiences of caring when in treatment for alcohol dependencyDespite the fact of increased levels of alcohol dependency in women and gender differences in how the disease affects men and women, the research on alcohol dependency continues to have a dominating perspective on men. The meaning of the phenomenon of caring in formal care for women with alcohol dependency is not well known. Thus, formal caregivers may find it problematic to know what is caring for women with alcohol dependency. The aim of the study was to illuminate the meaning of caring in formal care for women with alcohol dependency, as narrated by the women. The study was performed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method. Data were collected in ten in-depth interviews with alcohol-dependent women. The themes presented are availability, being a patient and being a learner. The findings reveal that the women with alcohol dependency receiving a mandate from formal care, experience the relation between them and their caregiver as a mutual transformation. Within the mutual transformation, the participants experienced being respected as a responsible human being which renders possibilities for the women with alcohol dependency to continue in formal care even when the struggle against the disease became hard. Continual meetings with the caregiver allowed the women to gain structure in their daily life as well as allowing the women and their caregivers to develop mutual transformation, which both relieved the women’s suffering and increased their experience of being involved in the care process.
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the associations between participation in different leisure activities and binge drinking in Swedish adults. The study was based on a questionnaire in a general population sample (n=3567) of individuals aged 19-64 years old. Men and women were defined as binge drinkers if they reported that they had consumed alcohol at least once a month, and stated that at a typical drinking occasion they consumed five or more standard glasses (12g of alcohol). Multivariate analyses found associations between binge drinking and socializing with friends among men aged 19-30 years (odds ratio, OR 2.88), in the 31-64 years old age group (OR 1.87). Corresponding results was found in younger women (OR 2.36). A higher OR was also found for younger men who regularly attended sporting events as spectators (OR 1.83), and among respondents in the older age group who regularly played computer or video games (OR 2.11 for women and 1.61 for men). A lower OR for binge drinking was found for men who regularly participated in religious services in both age-groups. Lower prevalence of binge drinking among women was only found in the younger group among those who regularly participated in sports/athletics or other training (OR 0.51). Our findings suggest that prevention strategies could benefit from an everyday life approach, but also that different interventions should be used in relation to specific leisure activities.
To examine sex differences in alcohol consumption according to age groups, and to assess gender and age effects on several aspects of alcohol consumption patterns.
Based on a Brazilian nationwide representative sample (n = 3,007), we analysed the differences in drinking patterns between genders. We also assessed the effects of gender, age, and gender by age interaction for alcohol consumption dimensions (frequent drinking, usual intake, binge drinking, and frequent binge drinking), using logistic and negative binomial regression models.
Gender, age, and gender by age interaction had significant effects on the predictive models for all studied drinking patterns, except for the 'usual' dosage. The effect of gender on drinking patterns varies with age. While gender has a greater effect in older age groups, the difference between men and women decreased in the younger age groups.
Gender convergence regarding alcohol use is a trend that might be influenced by environmental factors and should be addressed in prevention and treatment programs, as well as in public health policies.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate how drinking is related to positive expectations of the effects of drinking. Data emanates from Gender, Alcohol and Culture - An International Study (GENACIS), a collaborative project in which surveys from all included countries utilized the same core questionnaire. Three indicators for positive expectations were used, representing a social, relational, and intimate dimension. Cross-country comparisons of positive expectancy reports were conducted, as well as exploratory multiple regression analyses of the relationships between expectations and drinking. Volume and binge drinking were used as two indicators for drinking pattern. The share of current drinkers varied between countries and genders. In all countries, men reported on expectancies more often than women. Regression model results are variable and not directly interpretable into cultural patterns, across countries and continents.
Both survey data and liver cirrhosis mortality data demonstrate the existence of a relationship between per capita consumption of alcohol and the prevalence of heavy alcohol use. The present paper reviews some of the explanations given for this relationship, and the so-called “contagion between persons” explanation is further developed. The empirical evidence for the basic assumptions of this theory is reviewed, and some predictions are derived and related to empirical facts.
Abstract Aims. Two hypotheses were tested to explain a high prevalence of alcohol-related problems among women relative to their low prevalence of excessive drinking: (1) At a given level of drinking, women may report more problems of any type than do men. (2) At a given level of drinking, the number of problems or the severity of the reported problems may be lower among women than among men. D esign. General population survey. Setting. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Participants. 3537 Dutch respondents within the age range 16-69 years . M easurem ents. Alcohol-related problems were measured in five problem areas: psychological dependence, symptomatic drinking, social problems, health problems/accidents and frequent drunkenness/ hangovers. A problem index was formed by adding up the scores in the five separate problem areas. Alcohol use was measured by the Quantity-Frequency-Variability index. Findings. For the same level of drinking, women were as likely as men to report alcohol-related problems except that women light drinkers were actually less likely to report problems than men. Men tended to have a greater accumulation of different types of problems within drinking categories than women. Overall problem severity, however, did not differ between men and women. The apparent excess prevalence of alcohol problems in women relative to drinking level appears to be due to presence of problems even among light drinkers and a greater preponderance of light drinkers in women than men. C onclusions. The first hypothesis was rejected; drinking levels being the same, the level of alcohol problems is the same or even lower for women than for men. As hypothesized, men tend to have a greater accumulation of different kinds of problems than women. However, the severity of the reported problems does not differ between men and women.
This study of 689 secondary school students (13-16 years of age) in Sweden investigates the association between alcohol habits, the availability of alcohol and age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin and family structure. Data were obtained by anonymous questionnaires in 1991. The availability of alcohol increased from the seventh grade to the ninth as did the proportion of alcohol consumers and students with regular alcohol consumption. Boys in the seventh and eighth grades showed somewhat more advanced alcohol habits than girls, but in the ninth grade the opposite was seen. Students with more advanced alcohol habits and a higher availability of alcohol more often belonged to a lower socioeconomic strata and they lived more often with a single parent. Students of foreign background drank alcohol (especially wine) more regularly. An association was also found between the parents' liberal attitude toward offering alcohol at home and frequent intoxication and the students' experience of illicitly produced liquor, especially among the youngest students. In spite of the Swedish alcohol policy the availability of alcohol is rather high among young people. Special attention in alcohol preventive work should be paid to girls, young people living with one parent, young people in lower socioeconomic groups and young people of foreign origin.
Because of biological differences between men and women, the same quantity of alcohol consumed over the same time period produces higher blood alcohol levels (BALs) in women than in men. Some alcohol researchers have proposed that quantity and volume measures of alcohol consumption (e.g. usual number of drinks per drinking day and overall amount of alcohol consumed) should be adjusted to reflect these biological differences. To date, no standard adjustment for biological gender differences has been adopted. In this paper, we review the literature on biological and behavioral differences related to alcohol consumption and effects and discuss the implications of these differences in terms of adjusting alcohol consumption measures. Our review suggests that adjusting measures of alcohol consumption to compensate for biological sex differences is most appropriate for research or policy applications involving the short and long-term physiological effects of alcohol in contexts where gender differences in how alcohol is consumed can be assumed to be minimal. In other circumstances, non-biological gender differences relating to alcohol use, such as pace of drinking, may moderate the relationship between alcohol consumption and biological gender differences, making an adjustment less defensible. We also identify areas where more knowledge is needed not only to address the issue of adjusting alcohol measures for gender differences but also to understand better the relationship between alcohol consumption and effects.
This paper aims at exploring the relations between early risk factors and the development of advanced drinking habits in adolescence. Data were derived from the longitudinal research program Individual Development and Adjustment. Results confirm earlier findings from longitudinal studies in this field. Three important factors have been identified: significant others, general sociability, and personality/conduct. More important, though, is that results indicate that knowledge about one or two background characteristics is not enough to make predictions of adolescent drinking habits. Rather, it is the ensemble of circumstances that together lead to an increased risk for advanced drinking habits in adolescence.
Two hypotheses were tested to explain a high prevalence of alcohol-related problems among women relative to their low prevalence of excessive drinking: (1) At a given level of drinking, women may report more problems of any type than do men. (2) At a given level of drinking, the number of problems or the severity of the reported problems may be lower among women than among men.
General population survey.
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
3537 Dutch respondents within the age range 16-69 years.
Alcohol-related problems were measured in five problem areas: psychological dependence, symptomatic drinking, social problems, health problems/accidents and frequent drunkenness/hangovers. A problem index was formed by adding up the scores in the five separate problem areas. Alcohol use was measured by the Quantity-Frequency-Variability index.
For the same level of drinking, women were as likely as men to report alcohol-related problems except that women light drinkers were actually less likely to report problems than men. Men tended to have a greater accumulation of different types of problems within drinking categories than women. Overall problem severity, however, did not differ between men and women. The apparent excess prevalence of alcohol problems in women relative to drinking level appears to be due to presence of problems even among light drinkers and a greater preponderance of light drinkers in women than men.
The first hypothesis was rejected; drinking levels being the same, the level of alcohol problems is the same or even lower for women than for men. As hypothesized, men tend to have a greater accumulation of different kinds of problems than women. However, the severity of the reported problems does not differ between men and women.
Drinking patterns among Swedish gay men and lesbians (n = 1720) are compared to two nationally representative survey groups. Findings point at elevated levels of drinking among lesbians, but not among gay men. Gay men and lesbians do not, as in the general population, reduce their drinking with increasing age and there are very few gay and lesbian abstainers. Experiences of consequences of drinking are more frequent, particularly among lesbians. The study reveals that alcohol plays a more substantial role at the core of the gay and lesbian community, at least, than in many other subgroups of the Swedish society.