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Study reports increase in female binge drinking
- By News Services
- Published 07/1/2009
- Binge drinking
- Unrated
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Study reports an uptick in female binge drinking
Bobby Longoria, The Daily Texan
Binge drinking statistics have decreased for most demographics with the exception of women under 30, whose rates have risen nearly 10 percentage points in the past 30 years.
Richard Grucza, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, recently authored a study that researched the binge-drinking tendencies among young females in the U.S. and found increased consumption rates in college aged women.
The study found that although binge drinking has decreased for several demographics, it has increased in women under 34.
Of the 18 to 20-year-old female population in 1979, 22 percent reported binge drinking and 20.3 percent of the 21 to 23-year-old age group reported binge drinking.
These numbers rose to 30.1 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively, in 2006.
English senior Michelle Cruz said binge drinking among females is seen as a sort of competition.
“It’s more like proving yourself, that I can handle it,” Cruz said. “It’s usually a shot. It’s like, ‘Oh, can you take a shot without a chaser. If you have to take a chaser you’re a girly girl.’”
Binge drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the consumption of five or more drinks on one occasion for men, four for women, with “one occasion” lasting about two hours.
Social and cultural issues tend to influence a person’s drinking behavior and colleges are often hot spots for drinking activity.
UT neurobiology professor Adron Harris, the director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and addiction Research, said females are more susceptible to organ, liver and heart damage than males.
Harris said a woman’s sensitivity to alcohol is a result of two factors.
“They usually have a lower body weight, and the amount of blood levels depend on body weight,” Harris said. “The other thing is the way alcohol distributes. It stays with water. Females have less body water than males, even for the same weight.”
The advertising industry’s new strategy of catering to the female population on billboards and magazines may be a factor in the rise of female binge drinking. Cruz conducted a study examining advertising strategies on young females.
“Most ads, like SKYY Vodka ads, have a really beautiful female drinking or posing with a man,” Cruz said. “It’s almost like a ‘You drink this and this could be you’ mentality.”
Although reported binge drinking has increased with females, Carlton Erickson, associate dean for research in the College of Pharmacy and director of the Addiction Science Research and Education Center, said alcoholism is not as rampant among females as among males.
“The only thing that’s really known is that there are one-third as many women alcoholics as men,” Erickson said. “It doesn’t seem to be genetic. It doesn’t seem to be exposure to alcohol.”
Cruz said females tend to binge drink in order to compensate for day-to-day pressures.
“I have female friends that I would consider possible alcoholics, because it’s on a regular basis,” Cruz said. “In their head, its just for fun and not depression, but it is constant and regular.”
The Daily Texan
Bobby Longoria, The Daily Texan
Binge drinking statistics have decreased for most demographics with the exception of women under 30, whose rates have risen nearly 10 percentage points in the past 30 years.
Richard Grucza, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, recently authored a study that researched the binge-drinking tendencies among young females in the U.S. and found increased consumption rates in college aged women.
The study found that although binge drinking has decreased for several demographics, it has increased in women under 34. Of the 18 to 20-year-old female population in 1979, 22 percent reported binge drinking and 20.3 percent of the 21 to 23-year-old age group reported binge drinking.
These numbers rose to 30.1 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively, in 2006.
English senior Michelle Cruz said binge drinking among females is seen as a sort of competition.
“It’s more like proving yourself, that I can handle it,” Cruz said. “It’s usually a shot. It’s like, ‘Oh, can you take a shot without a chaser. If you have to take a chaser you’re a girly girl.’”
Binge drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the consumption of five or more drinks on one occasion for men, four for women, with “one occasion” lasting about two hours.
Social and cultural issues tend to influence a person’s drinking behavior and colleges are often hot spots for drinking activity.
UT neurobiology professor Adron Harris, the director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and addiction Research, said females are more susceptible to organ, liver and heart damage than males.
Harris said a woman’s sensitivity to alcohol is a result of two factors.
“They usually have a lower body weight, and the amount of blood levels depend on body weight,” Harris said. “The other thing is the way alcohol distributes. It stays with water. Females have less body water than males, even for the same weight.”
The advertising industry’s new strategy of catering to the female population on billboards and magazines may be a factor in the rise of female binge drinking. Cruz conducted a study examining advertising strategies on young females.
“Most ads, like SKYY Vodka ads, have a really beautiful female drinking or posing with a man,” Cruz said. “It’s almost like a ‘You drink this and this could be you’ mentality.”
Although reported binge drinking has increased with females, Carlton Erickson, associate dean for research in the College of Pharmacy and director of the Addiction Science Research and Education Center, said alcoholism is not as rampant among females as among males.
“The only thing that’s really known is that there are one-third as many women alcoholics as men,” Erickson said. “It doesn’t seem to be genetic. It doesn’t seem to be exposure to alcohol.”
Cruz said females tend to binge drink in order to compensate for day-to-day pressures.
“I have female friends that I would consider possible alcoholics, because it’s on a regular basis,” Cruz said. “In their head, its just for fun and not depression, but it is constant and regular.”
The Daily Texan
