educated women drink more

Alcohol effects women differently

Most of what we know of alcoholism has been accumulated from scientific studies conducted with a high percentage of male subjects. Current studies involving more female subjects show that drinking differs between men and women (Telegraph UK), as well as between females and the difference in what level education they have completed.

There are several possibilities as to why better-educated women drink more:

  • They tend to have children later, postponing the responsibilities of parenthood.
  • They may have more active social lives or work in male-dominated workplaces with a drinking culture.

Studies in the general population display that fewer women than men drink. It is estimated that of the 15.1 million alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent individuals in the United States, approximately 4.6 million (nearly one-third) are women.  Interestingly, women who have never married or who are divorced or separated are more likely to drink heavily and experience alcohol-related problems than women who are married or widowed. Unmarried women living with a partner are more likely still to engage in heavy drinking and to develop drinking problems.

Moreover, studies of women alcoholics in treatment show that females often experience greater physiological impairment earlier in their drinking careers, despite having consumed less alcohol than men. These findings suggest that the development of consequences associated with heavy drinking may be increased or “telescoped” in women.  After alcohol is consumed, it diffuses uniformly into all body water, both inside and outside cells. Because of their smaller quantity of body water, women acquire higher concentrations of alcohol in their blood than men after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol. Essentially, blood alcohol concentration in women may be likened to the result of dropping the same quantity of alcohol into a smaller pail of water.

Constant alcohol abuse has a greater physical toll on women than on men. Female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics. Further, a greater percentage of female alcoholics die from suicides, alcohol-related accidents, circulatory disorders, and cirrhosis of the liver.  Women have a higher abstinence rate if treated in a medically oriented alcoholism facility, whereas the abstinence rate is higher for men treated in a peer group-oriented facility.