Sex Differences in Substance Use National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA

Further research will be needed to determine whether the findings apply to smaller time increments, such as the past month or past year. It is also possible that, in participants’ recollections, exposure and reactivity are not as distinct as implied here. Reporting that an event has occurred may be related to the salience of the situation and is itself a form of reactivity. For example, women may be more aware of interpersonal issues or may have a lower threshold than men for reporting interpersonal problems. Similarly, individuals who increased their drinking in response to an experience may be more likely to recall that experience.

• The biological differences between men and women play a significant role in how they respond to both stress and alcohol.
• Furthermore, research indicates that gender moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and daily alcohol use such that depressive symptoms were positively linked with daily drinking and risk for compulsive drinking for male undergraduates (Pedrelli et al., 2011).
• Her findings suggest a key difference in how men and women consume alcohol — at least under certain conditions.
• Stress drinking, defined as the consumption of alcohol as a means to cope with stress, is a widespread phenomenon that affects both men and women.
• A cocktail we order at the bar or a beverage we buy at the store may not always be equal to one standard drink.
• Studies of subjective emotion experience find that women report greater sadness (Brebner, 2003; Fischer et al., 2004) and anxiety/fear (Feingold, 1994; Fischer et al., 2004; Ollendick et al., 1995) than men.

Longitudinal Effects of Adolescent Drunkenness

Cross-sectional model predicting young adult negative consequences of drinking and binge drinking. Women may be more likely to label the same or lower physiological arousal as sadness/anxiety related than men or may experience it subjectively and express it behaviorally with greater intensity. Women may also focus cognitively on sadness/anxiety more than men—-for example, women are more likely to ruminate on sad and anxious emotions than men whereas men are more likely to distract attention away from these emotional states (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1999). Rumination has been linked to depressive and anxious symptoms, symptoms which are more common for women than men (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000). Alternatively, as hypothesized by Taylor et al. (2000), it may be that cardiovascular arousal and the traditional “fight” or “flight” response is not a prominent domain of stress experience for women. Studies of subjective emotion experience find that women report greater sadness (Brebner, 2003; Fischer et al., 2004) and anxiety/fear (Feingold, 1994; Fischer et al., 2004; Ollendick et al., 1995) than men.

Evidence supporting the importance of normative occupational and relationship stress suggests that, in addition to negative life events, interventions to reduce alcohol misuse in early adulthood might attend to salient stressors frequently experienced during this developmental period. Relatedly, knowing that different types of stressors are particularly salient for men and women can inform the development of interventions tailored for each gender. The finding that both social and coping motives are implicated in alcohol misuse indicates that it may be useful to steer young adults away from using alcohol for either reason. Finally, concern over young adult mental health has grown in recent years (Schulenberg & Zarett, 2006), and policy has started to focus on preventing mental health and substance use problems in young adult populations (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 2016). A better understanding of which types of stressors impact young adult well-being can better inform these efforts by highlighting that even normative stress experienced by most individuals can have adverse effects on young adults. Stress has been linked to various forms of alcohol misuse, but several questions remain regarding these associations.

Health Implications of Gender-Specific Stress Responses

The results also build on prior research showing that traditional gender roles can influence the association between stress and alcohol use (Perrotte, Baumann, & Knight, 2018). Taken together, the findings indicate that because of their distinct priorities, young men may be more likely to misuse alcohol in the context of work-related stressors whereas young women may be more likely to do so in response to problems in romantic relationships. This previous work underlined the importance of considering exposure and reactivity separately. Furthermore, as we have noted, gender differences in drinking may vary depending on whether they are based on comparisons across individuals who vary in their alcohol use and levels of problem drinking or on comparisons among problem drinkers. (1) Overall, do women and men differ in their exposure to social influences, stressors, and emotional distress? Specifically, do men experience greater exposure to these social influences or stressors, which might help explain men’s higher problem-drinking prevalence?

Conclusion: Embracing a Nuanced Understanding of Stress

A pulse sensor was attached to the participant’s finger and connected to the Dinamap Monitor to provide a continuous measure of pulse. Problem drinking has risen fastest among women in their 30s and 40s, the age at which many are squeezed between careers, motherhood, and aging parents. This may seem odd because high-income women should be better able to afford help with child care, chores, and other responsibilities that can cause stress. But although this group has more resources, the standards for child-rearing, housing, and career achievements in this cohort are also ratcheting ever higher. The strain of keeping up with the Joneses depends on which Joneses you’re keeping up with.

Stress Impact on Well-being: How Positive and Negative Stimuli Affect…

Healthy adult social drinkers (27 men, 27 women) were exposed to individually developed and calibrated stressful, alcohol-related, and neutral-relaxing imagery, 1 imagery per session, on separate days and in random order. Subjective emotions, behavioral/bodily responses, cardiovascular arousal heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and self-reported alcohol craving were assessed. For instance, overall comparisons between men and women are likely to be sensitive to the prevalence of drinking problems in the sample. Because our comparisons included approximately equal representation of problem and nonproblem drinkers, some of the gender differences we identified are larger than what is likely to be the case in a representative community sample, where problem-drinking prevalence is much lower. Furthermore, the low level of exposure to some stressors and the low rate of problem drinking among the women in this sample resulted in small samples for analyses of reactivity to some stressors, particularly financial/legal problems and workplace problems.

• On the other hand, women have historically faced more social stigma for drinking, especially in public or to excess.
• Let’s pop open the cork and pore over the gender disparities of alcohol and why it’s important.
• Women who experienced stress drank heavily regardless of if their first drink contained alcohol or not.
• “Women get help at lower rates than men, and shame is often the reason,” says Melise Ammit, a sober coach and nurse specialist working in the area of women and alcohol.
• Longitudinal indirect effects of adolescent frequency of drunkenness on binge drinking and negative consequences of drinking through stress and drinking motives.
• Overall, women were more likely than men to report exposure to a partner’s drinking, family interpersonal problems, death of someone close, and emotional distress.

Frequency of drunkenness in adolescence

Participants indicated how often they had ever been drunk, using a six-point scale with response options ranging from 1 (never happened) to 6 (happens almost every day or more). “Theoretically, we expected stress drinking has a gender divide both men and women to need the stress and the prime dose to achieve the highest blood alcohol concentrations. They had bar stools, a bartender, and allowed the participants — 105 men and 105 women — to intermingle.

Men’s problem-focused approach might be more effective for addressing acute stressors but may fall short in dealing with ongoing or complex stressors that don’t have clear solutions. At a glance, the main differences between men and women in stress experiences are multifaceted. Women tend to report higher levels of stress and are more likely to experience stress-related physical and mental health issues. On the other hand, men often internalize stress, leading to different manifestations of stress-related problems. These differences are not merely anecdotal but are rooted in complex biological, psychological, and social factors. Longitudinal model predicting young adult negative consequences of drinking and binge drinking.

Exposure to social influences and stressors.

In many cultures, men are expected to be strong and resilient in the face of stress, which can lead to a reluctance to seek help or express vulnerability. This expectation may drive some men to use alcohol as a socially acceptable way to cope with stress. Women, while facing their own set of social pressures, may be more likely to face stigma for drinking to cope with stress, potentially leading to underreporting or hidden drinking behaviors. The biological differences between men and women play a significant role in how they respond to both stress and alcohol.

Future research directions in gender-specific stress responses should focus on developing more tailored interventions, understanding the long-term health implications of different stress responses, and exploring how changing gender roles in society might influence stress experiences. This kind of binge drinking can lead some down a path toward alcohol use disorder, a condition characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol. But who ends up with the condition is down to a complex mix of factors, including genetics, environmental factors, and occupational stress. Part of the problem in teasing out these risk factors is the research into alcohol use tends to be split along gender lines — most of it is in men.