High Intensity Drinking (HID) Assessed by Maximum Quantity Consumed Is an Important Pattern Measure Adding Predictive Value in Higher and Lower Income Societies for Modeling Alcohol-Related Problems.

Adjusting for demographics and standard drinking measures, High Intensity Drinking (HID), indexed by the maximum quantity consumed in a single day in the past 12 months, may be valuable in predicting alcohol dependence other harms across high and low income societies. The data consisted of 17 surveys of adult (15,460 current drinkers; 71% of total surveyed) in Europe (3), the Americas (8), Africa (2), and Asia/Australia (4). Gender-disaggregated country analyses used Poison regression to investigate whether HID (8-11, 12-23, 24+ drinks) was incrementally influential, beyond log drinking volume and HED (Heavy Episodic Drinking, or 5+ days), in predicting drinking problems, adjusting for age and marital status. In adjusted models predicting AUDIT-5 for men, adding HID improved the overall model fit for 11 of 15 countries. For women, 12 of 14 countries with available data showed an improved fit with HID included. The results for the five Life-Area Harms were similar for men. Considering the results by gender, each country showing improvements in model fit by adding HID had larger values of the average difference between high intensity and usual consumption, implying variations in amounts consumed on any given day. The amount consumed/day often greatly exceeded HED levels. In many societies of varying income levels, as hypothesized, HID provided important added information on drinking patterns for predicting harms, beyond the standard volume and binging indicators.

Associations of adult roles and minority stressors with trajectories of alcohol dependence symptoms throughout adulthood among sexual minority women.

OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we sought to identify trajectories of symptoms of potential alcohol dependence (AD) among adult sexual minority women (SMW). Theoretical correlates were examined in relation to the empirically identified trajectories. METHOD: Data were collected at three time points between 2000 and 2012 from SMW drinkers (n = 434) enrolled in a longitudinal study (M Age = 37.49 at baseline, SD = 11.55). Using an accelerated-cohort longitudinal design, latent growth curve mixture models identified homogeneous patterns of any past-year symptoms of potential AD. Correlates of trajectories included alcohol-related developmental risk factors, adult roles, and exposure to minority stressors. RESULTS: Three trajectories were identified that captured risk of symptoms of potential AD over time, reflecting: (a) relatively consistent, low risk over time; (b) deceleration in risk throughout adulthood; (c) relatively persistent, high risk over time. Consistent with prior work, SMW drinkers who reported higher levels of perceived stigma or masculinity showed persistently high risk of reporting at least one past-year symptom of potential AD. CONCLUSIONS: Most SMW drinkers report deceleration in risk of AD symptoms over time. Findings have implications for prevention and intervention efforts tailored to SMW drinkers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A gender-focused multilevel analysis of how country, regional and individual level factors relate to harm from others' drinking.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine how gender, age and education, regional prevalence of male and female risky drinking and country-level economic gender equality are associated with harms from other people's drinking. METHODS: 24,823 adults in ten countries were surveyed about harms from drinking by people they know and strangers. Country-level economic gender equality and regional prevalence of risky drinking along with age and gender were entered as independent variables into three-level random intercept models predicting alcohol-related harm. FINDINGS: At the individual level, younger respondents were consistently more likely to report harms from others' drinking, while, for women, higher education was associated with lower risk of harms from known drinkers but higher risk of harms from strangers. Regional rate of men's risky drinking was associated with known and stranger harm, while regional-level women's risky drinking was associated with harm from strangers. Gender equality was only associated with harms in models in models that did not include risky drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Youth and regional levels of men's drinking was consistently associated with harm from others attributable to alcohol. Policies that decrease the risky drinking of men would be likely to reduce harms attributable to the drinking of others.

The Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Couples Study: Protocol for a Study of Stress, Hazardous Drinking, and Intimate Partner Aggression Among Sexual Minority Women and Their Partners.

BACKGROUND: Large gaps exist in research on alcohol use and intimate partner aggression (IPA) among sexual minority women (SMW; eg, lesbian, bisexual). Dyadic research with SMW and their partners can illuminate how couple-level factors operate in conjunction with individual-level factors to shape well-being in this understudied and vulnerable population. Given the traditionally gendered lens with which women are primarily viewed as victims and men as perpetrators, understanding the dynamics of IPA in same-sex female couples can also advance research and practice related to IPA more generally. OBJECTIVE: Guided by a recent extension of the minority stress model that includes relational (couple-level) sexual minority stress and the I-cubed theoretical perspective on IPA, we will collect individual and dyadic data to better characterize the links between hazardous drinking and IPA among SMW and their partners. First, this study aims to examine the associations among minority stress, hazardous drinking, and IPA in SMW and their partners. Minority stressors will be assessed as both individual and couple-level constructs, thus further extending the minority stress model. Second, we aim to examine potential mediators and moderators of the associations among minority stress, hazardous drinking, and IPA. Finally, we aim to test models guided by the I-cubed theoretical perspective that includes instigating (eg, relationship conflict), impelling (eg, negative affect and trait anger), and inhibiting (eg, relationship commitment and emotion regulation) or disinhibiting (eg, hazardous drinking) influences on IPA perpetration. METHODS: This United States National Institutes of Health-funded project will draw from a large and diverse cohort of SMW currently enrolled in the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study-a 21-year longitudinal study of risk factors and consequences associated with SMW hazardous drinking. SMW currently enrolled in the CHLEW and their partners will be invited to participate in the CHLEW Couples Study. By analyzing dyadic data using actor-partner interdependence models, we will examine how each partner's minority stress, hazardous drinking, and IPA experiences are associated with both her own and her partner's minority stress, hazardous drinking, and IPA perpetration. RESULTS: Data collection began in February 2021 and will likely continue through 2023. Initial results should be available by mid-2024. CONCLUSIONS: The CHLEW Couples Study will fill important gaps in knowledge and provide the basis for future research aimed at clarifying the causal pathways linking hazardous drinking and IPA among SMW. This will support the development of culturally appropriate targeted individual and dyadic prevention and intervention strategies. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/28080.

Alcohol use among sexual minority women: Methods used and lessons learned in the 20-Year Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study.

Background: Two decades ago, there was almost no research on alcohol use among sexual minority women (SMW, e.g., lesbian, bisexual). Since then, a growing body of scientific literature documents substantial sexual orientation-related disparities in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Research has identified multiple risk factors associated with high-risk/hazardous drinking among SMW. However, this research has almost exclusively used cross-sectional designs, limiting the ability to draw conclusions about processes through which sexual minority status affects alcohol use. Longitudinal designs, although very rare in research on alcohol use among SMW, are important for testing mediational mechanisms and necessary to understanding how changes in social determinants impact alcohol use. Aim: To describe the processes and lessons learned in conducting a 20-year longitudinal study focused on alcohol use among SMW. Methods: The Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study includes five waves of data collection (2000-present) with an age and racially/ethnically diverse sample of 815 SMW (ages 18-83) originally recruited in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in Illinois, a midwestern state in the United States (U.S.). Measures and focus have evolved over the course of the study. Results: The CHLEW study is the longest-running and most comprehensive study of SMW's drinking in the U.S. or elsewhere. Findings reported in more than 50 published manuscripts have contributed to understanding variations in SMW's risk for hazardous/harmful drinking based on sexual identity, age, race/ethnicity, sex/gender of partner, and many other factors. Conclusions: By describing the process used in conducting this long-term study, its major findings, and the lessons learned, we hope to encourage and support other researchers in conducting longitudinal research focused on SMW's health. Such research is critically important in understanding and ultimately eliminating sexual orientation-related health disparities.

Children, Parental Alcohol Consumption, and Intimate Partner Violence: A Multicountry Analysis by Perpetration Versus Victimization and Sex.

Both living with children and alcohol consumption are positively associated with intimate partner violence (IPV). We assessed their combined relationship with physical IPV (P-IPV) victimization and perpetration, and explored possible moderating roles of sex and culture. Data included 15 surveys of 13,716 men and 17,832 women in 14 countries from the GENACIS (Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: An International Study) collaboration. P-IPV was measured as victim of physical aggression by an intimate partner (Vic-Only), perpetrator of physical aggression toward a partner (Perp-Only), or both victim and perpetrator (i.e., bidirectional) (Bi-Dir). Participants reported whether they lived with children below 18 years of age, whether the participant was a drinker/abstainer, and, among drinkers, usual frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed. Multilevel multinomial logistic regression, controlling for age and nesting of data within countries, indicated that Vic-Only, Perp-Only, and Bi-Dir (compared with no P-IPV) were positively associated with living with children, being a drinker, and quantity/frequency of drinking among drinkers (especially higher quantity). The positive association of P-IPV with living with children and being a drinker was evident within most countries. Significant interactions with sex were found, with (a) living with children more strongly associated with Perp-Only for men and Vic-Only for women, and (b) Perp-Only and Bi-Dir more strongly associated with being a drinker for men but with quantity consumed for women. Also, alcohol consumption was more strongly related to Perp-Only and Bi-Dir than with Vic-Only. In conclusion, higher risk of P-IPV with alcohol consumption is compounded when living with children-putting children who live with drinkers, especially drinkers who consume large amounts per occasion, at special risk of exposure to P-IPV. This is an important area for future research and prevention.

Children's experience of physical harms and exposure to family violence from others' drinking in nine societies.

AIM: To study caregiver reports of children's experience of physical harm and exposure to family violence due to others' drinking in nine societies, assess the relationship of harm with household drinking pattern and evaluate whether gender and education of caregiver affect these relationships. METHOD: Using data on adult caregivers from the GENAHTO (Gender and Alcohol's Harm to Others) project, child alcohol-related injuries and exposure of children to alcohol-related violence (CAIV) rates are estimated by country and pooled using meta-analysis and stratified by gender of the caregiver. Households with and without heavy or harmful drinker(s) (HHD) are compared assessing the interaction of caregiver gender on the relationship between reporting HHD and CAIV, adjusting for caregiver education and age. Additionally, the relationship between caregiver education and CAIV is analysed with meta-regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of CAIV varied across societies, with an overall pooled mean of 4% reported by caregivers. HHD was a consistent correlate of CAIV in all countries. Men and women in the sample reported similar levels of CAIV overall, but the relationship between HHD and CAIV was greater for women than for men, especially if the HHD was the most harmful drinker. Education was not significantly associated with CAIV. CONCLUSION: One in 25 caregivers with children report physical or family violence harms to children because of others' drinking. The adjusted odds of harm are significantly greater (more than four-fold) in households with a heavy or harmful drinker, with men most likely to be defined as this drinker in the household.

Improving measurement of harms from others' drinking: A key informant study on type and severity of harm.

AIMS: Some types of harms experienced because of others' drinking (AHTO) may produce greater negative effects than other harms. However, AHTO survey items were developed to measure type, not severity, of harm. We aimed to compare the perceived severity of a comprehensive list of AHTO items to assess consistency in subjective ratings of severity, facilitate a more nuanced analysis and identify strategies to improve measurement of AHTO in epidemiological surveys. METHODS: Thirty-six leaders of national alcohol surveys (conducted between 1997 and 2016) from 23 countries rated the typical severity of negative effects on the victim of each of 48 types of AHTO using a scale from zero (no negative effect) to 10 (very severe negative effect). The survey leaders were also asked to provide open-ended feedback about each harm and the severity-rating task generally. RESULTS: Of 48 harm items, five were classified as extreme severity (mean rating ≥8), 17 as high (≥6 <8), 25 as moderate (≥4 <6), and one as low (≤4). We used two-way random effects models to estimate absolute agreement intraclass correlation coefficients (AA-ICC) and consistency of agreement intraclass correlation coefficients (CA-ICC). Results showed that there was fair to excellent absolute agreement and consistency of agreement among "experts'' ratings of the severity of harms from others' drinking (single measures CA-ICC = 0.414, single measures AA-ICC = 0.325; average CA-ICC = 0.940, average AA-ICC = 0.914). Harms to children, and harms causing physical, financial, practical, or severe emotional impacts were rated most severe. CONCLUSIONS: When designing new AHTO surveys and conducting analyses of existing data, researchers should pay close attention to harms with high perceived severity to identify effective ways to prevent severe AHTO and reduce the negative health and social impacts of AHTO. In-depth analyses of specific sub-sets of harms and qualitative interviews with victims of severe AHTO may prove useful.

Cross-sectional surveys of financial harm associated with others' drinking in 15 countries: Unequal effects on women?

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: That physical, emotional and social problems occur not only to drinkers, but also to others they connect with, is increasingly acknowledged. Financial harms from others' drinking have been seldom studied at the population level, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Whether financial harm and costs from others' drinking inequitably affect women is little known. The study's aim is to compare estimates and correlates of alcohol's financial harm to others than the drinker in 15 countries. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Cross-sectional surveys of Alcohol's Harm To Others (AHTO) were conducted in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, India, Ireland, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the US and Vietnam. PARTICIPANTS: 17,670 men and 20,947 women. MEASUREMENT: The prevalence of financial harm in the last year was assessed as financial trouble and/or less money available for household expenses because of someone else's drinking. ANALYSIS: Meta-analysis and country-level logistic regression of financial harm (vs. none), adjusted for gender, age, education, rurality and participant drinking. RESULTS: Under 3.2 % of respondents in most high-income countries reported financial harm due to others' drinking, whereas 12-22 % did in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Financial harm from others' drinking was significantly more common among women than men in nine countries. Among men and women, financial harm was significantly more prevalent in low- and middle- than in high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Reports of financial harm from others' drinking are more common among women than among men, and in low- and middle-income than in high-income countries.

Research on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among sexual minority women: A global scoping review.

Until the 1980s, the limited research on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among sexual minority women (SMW) focused on alcohol and used samples recruited from gay bars, resulting in inflated estimates of hazardous drinking. Over the past several decades the number of AOD studies with SMW has increased dramatically. To characterize this literature, we conducted a scoping review to answer the following questions: What do we know, and what are the gaps in research about AOD use among SMW? We searched multiple electronic databases (Medline [PubMed], CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) for peer-reviewed research articles about AOD use among adult SMW published between January 1, 2000 and May 31, 2017. After duplicates were removed the search identified 4,204 articles. We reviewed the titles and abstracts and removed articles that did not meet inclusion criteria. We used full-text review of the remaining 229 articles to make a final determination regarding inclusion and we retained 181 articles for review. Although the quantity of AOD research with SMW has grown substantially, the great majority of studies have been conducted in the United States (US) and most focus on hazardous drinking; relatively little research has focused on other drugs. In addition, although there has been marked improvement in theories and methods used in this research, many gaps and limitations remain. Examples are the lack of longitudinal research; reliance on samples that tend to over-represent white, well-educated, and relatively young women; sparse attention to mechanisms underlying the disproportionately high rates of AOD use among SMW; and the absence of intervention research. In general, more high-quality research on SMW's use of AODs is needed, but gaps and limitations are particularly large in non-western countries. Addressing these research gaps and limitations is essential for providing information that can be used to develop more effective prevention and early intervention strategies, as well as for informing policies that can help to reduce risky drinking and drug misuse among SMW.

Do relationships provide the same levels of protection against heavy drinking for lesbian and bisexual women? An intersectional approach.

PURPOSE: Sexual minority women (SMW; e.g., lesbian, bisexual) are more likely than heterosexual women to be heavy drinkers, with bisexual women showing the highest risk. There is ample literature demonstrating that intimate relationships protect against stress-related health risk behaviors in the general population. However, very little research has focused on SMW's relationships and far less is known about the relationships of SMW of color. Using intersectionality theory as our framework, we tested two competing models to determine whether the effects of minority sexual identity (lesbian, bisexual) and race/ethnicity (African American, Latinx, White) are: 1) additive, or 2) multiplicative in the associations between relationship status and heavy drinking. METHODS: Data are from a diverse sample of cisgender sexual minority women (N = 641) interviewed in Wave 3 of the CHLEW study, a 20-year longitudinal study of SMW's health. RESULTS: Findings from two- and three-way interactions provide mixed evidence for both the additive and multiplicative hypotheses; support for each varied by sexual identity and race/ethnicity. Overall, we found that Latinx SMW, particularly single and bisexual Latinx SMW report the highest rates of heavy drinking compared to their cohabiting and lesbian counterparts, respectively. African American single SMW reported significantly higher rates of heavy drinking compared to their cohabiting counterparts. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the protective qualities of SMW's intimate relationships vary based on sexual identity and race/ethnicity-and the intersections between them. These results highlight that research among SMW that does not take into account multiple marginalized identities may obscure differences. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Little research has focused on health within sexual minority women's relationships, particularly among sexual minority women of color. Given the potential additive or multiplicative effects of multiple sources of oppression such as heterosexism, racism, and sexism, understanding the potential protective effects of relationships is important. Our findings demonstrate that the protective qualities of intimate relationships among SMW vary based on sexual identity and race/ethnicity - and the intersections between them.

Cross-National Comparisons and Correlates of Harms From the Drinking of People With Whom You Work.

BACKGROUND: While research in high-income countries (HICs) has established high costs associated with alcohol's harm to others (AHTO) in the workplace, scant attention has been paid to AHTO in the workplace in lower- or middle-income countries (LMICs). AIM: To compare estimates and predictors of alcohol's impacts upon coworkers among workers in 12 countries. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys from 9,693 men and 8,606 women employed in Switzerland, Australia, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Chile, Nigeria, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Sri Lanka. Five questions were asked about harms in the past year because of coworkers' drinking: Had they (i) covered for another worker; (ii) worked extra hours; (iii) been involved in an accident or close call; or had their (iv) own productivity been reduced; or (v) ability to do their job been affected? Logistic regression and meta-analyses were estimated with 1 or more harms (vs. none) as the dependent variable, adjusting for age, sex, rurality of location, and the respondent worker's own drinking. RESULTS: Between 1% (New Zealand) and 16% (Thailand) of workers reported that they had been adversely affected by a coworker's drinking in the previous year (with most countries in the 6 to 13% range). Smaller percentages (<1% to 12%) reported being in an accident or close call due to others' drinking. Employed men were more likely to report harm from coworkers' drinking than employed women in all countries apart from the United States, New Zealand, and Vietnam, and own drinking pattern was associated with increased harm in 5 countries. Harms were distributed fairly equally across age and geographic regions. Harm from coworkers' drinking was less prevalent among men in HICs compared with LMICs. CONCLUSIONS: Workforce impairment because of drinking extends beyond the drinker in a range of countries and impacts productivity and economic development, particularly affecting men in LMICs.

A Multilevel Analysis of Regional and Gender Differences in the Drinking Behavior of 23 Countries.

Introduction: Drinking behavior differs not only among countries, but also among regions within a country. However, the extent of such variation and the interplay between gender and regional differences in drinking have not been explored and are addressed in this study. Methods: Data stem from 105,061 individuals from 23 countries of the GENACIS data set. The outcomes were heavy drinking (10/20 g or more of pure ethanol per day for women/men), and risky single occasion drinking (RSOD) (5+ drinks per occasion) at least monthly. Analyses used binary logistic mixed models. Variance at specific levels was measured by the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Gender differences in outcomes were measured using gender ratios. Results: Country-level ICC was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.09-0.18) for heavy drinking and 0.16 (95% CI: 0.10-0.26) for RSOD. Within-country regional-level ICC for heavy drinking and RSOD was 0.02 (95% CI: 0.009-0.05; 0.01-0.04, respectively), implying that 2% of variation in heavy drinking and RSOD was explained by regional variation. Variance in drinking indicators was larger for women compared to men across countries. Gender ratios were higher in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions: Regional variations in risky drinking were more often present in low- to middle-income countries as well as in a few higher-income countries, and could be due to cultural and demographic differences. Variations in gender differences were larger on the country level than on the regional level, with lower-income countries showing larger differences. These results can help to better identify specific high-risk groups for prevention strategies.

Alcohol's Secondhand Harms in the United States: New Data on Prevalence and Risk Factors.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined a range of indicators of alcohol's harm to others (AHTO) among U.S. adults and assessed sociodemographic and alcohol-related risk factors for AHTO. METHOD: The data came from 8,750 adult men and women in two parallel 2015 U.S. national surveys conducted in English and Spanish. Both surveys used computer-assisted telephone interviews and two-stage, stratified, list-assisted, random samples of adults ages 18 and older. RESULTS: One in five adults experienced at least one of ten 12-month harms because of someone else's drinking. The prevalence of specific harm types and characteristics differed by gender. Women were more likely to report harm due to drinking by a spouse/partner or family member, whereas men were more likely to report harm due to a stranger's drinking. Being female also predicted family/financial harms. Younger age increased risk for all AHTO types, except physical aggression. Being of Black/other ethnicity, being separated/widowed/divorced, and having a college education without a degree each predicted physical aggression harm. The harmed individual's own heavy drinking and having a heavy drinker in the household increased risk for all AHTO types. The risk for physical aggression due to someone else's drinking was particularly elevated for heavy drinking women. CONCLUSIONS: Secondhand effects of alcohol in the United States are substantial and affected by sociodemographics, the harmed individual's own drinking, and the presence of a heavy drinker in the household. Broad-based and targeted public health measures that consider AHTO risk factors are needed to reduce alcohol's secondhand harms.

Depression and Victimization in a Community Sample of Bisexual and Lesbian Women: An Intersectional Approach.

Mental health inequities among bisexual and lesbian women are well-documented. Compared to heterosexual women, both bisexual and lesbian women are more likely to report lifetime depressive disorders, with bisexual women often faring the worst on mental health outcomes. Risk factors for depression, such as victimization in childhood and adulthood, are also more prevalent among bisexual women. Less is known about the intersection of racial/ethnic and sexual minority identities, and how depression and victimization may differ across these multiple, co-occurring identities. Data were from Wave 3 of the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women study, an 18-year, community-based longitudinal study of sexual minority women's health. We constructed a six-category "intersection" variable based on sexual identity and race/ethnicity to examine group differences in lifetime depression and victimization. We tested childhood and adult victimization as moderators of lifetime depression (n = 600). A majority (58.2%) of the total sample met criteria for lifetime depression. When considering the intersection of race/ethnicity and sexual identity, Black bisexual and Black lesbian women had significantly lower odds of depression than White lesbian women, despite their higher reports of victimization. Latina bisexual and lesbian women did not differ from White lesbians on depression. Victimization did not moderate the association between the intersection variable and depression. More research is needed to better understand risk and protective factors for depression among racially/ethnically diverse sexual minority women (SWM). We highlight the need to deliberately oversample SWM of color to accomplish this goal.

Relationship Status and Drinking-Related Outcomes in a Community Sample of Lesbian and Bisexual Women.

Although marriage tends to be protective against hazardous drinking among women in the general population, few studies have compared drinking rates, levels, or problems based on relationship status among sexual minority women (SMW; lesbian, bisexual). We examined associations between relationship status (committed relationship/cohabiting; committed/not cohabiting; single) and past-year drinking outcomes using data from a diverse sample of 696 SMW interviewed in wave 3 of the 17-year longitudinal Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women study. The mean age of SMW in the sample was 40.01 (SD = 14.15; range 18-82). A little more than one-third (37%) of the sample was white, 36% was African American, and 23% Latina; 4% reported another or multi- race/ethnicity. Compared to SMW in committed cohabiting relationships, single SMW were significantly more likely to be heavy drinkers. SMW in committed non-cohabiting relationships were more likely to report alcohol-related problem consequences, and both single SMW and those in committed non-cohabiting relationships were more likely to report one or more symptoms of potential alcohol dependence. Findings underscore the importance of exploring relationship factors that may influence drinking and drinking-related problems among SMW.

Gender Differences in Binge Drinking.

Just as binge drinking rates differ for men and women, the predictors and consequences of binge drinking vary by gender as well. This article examines these differences and how binge drinking definitions and research samples and methods may influence findings. It also describes the relationship between age and binge drinking among men and women, and how drinking culture and environment affect this relationship. It examines gender-specific trends in binge drinking, predictors of binge drinking for men and women, and binge drinking in the context of smoking. The article reviews current findings on gender differences in the health consequences of binge drinking, including morbidity and mortality, suicidality, cancer, cardiovascular disorders, liver disorders, and brain and neurocognitive implications. It also discusses gender differences in the behavioral and social consequences of binge drinking, including alcohol-impaired driving, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence, and includes implications for treatment and prevention.

Women's Self-Perceived Similarity to Their Mother and Associations with Patterns of Alcohol Misuse over 20 Years.

AIMS: This study examined transgenerational transmission of risk for female alcohol misuse. Women's perceived similarity to their mother/father in adulthood was examined in terms of its influence on the expected association between perceived maternal alcohol use and female offsprings' trajectories of alcohol misuse. We hypothesized that a daughter's self-perceived similarity to her mother, in instances where her mother was perceived to be a frequent- or problem-drinker, would be associated with an increase in the daughter's count of negative consequences from alcohol use and potential symptoms of alcohol dependence across adulthood. SHORT SUMMARY: Women's perceived similarity to their mother/father was examined as a factor influencing associations between perceived parental alcohol use during childhood and patterns of alcohol misuse in adulthood. Women's self-perceived similarity to their frequent- or problem-drinking mothers increased the risk of negative consequences from drinking over time as well as potential symptoms of alcohol dependence over time. METHODS: Analyses utilized data from a survey of women (N = 911) who were followed over a 20-year period, beginning in 1981. Women, ages 21 or older and living in households in the contiguous USA, were eligible, and women who consumed four or more alcoholic drinks per week were oversampled. Model estimates were weighted to adjust for the oversampling of heavier drinking women and to reflect national demographics. Latent growth mixture models estimated regression parameters that captured variation in participants' alcohol misuse over time. RESULTS: Women who reported that their mother was a frequent- or problem-drinker and who perceived themselves to be similar to their mother, in general, showed increases in alcohol misuse. The same pattern of results was not shown for fathers. CONCLUSIONS: Results support that interventions seeking to reduce female alcohol misuse should address the role of perceived similarity to heavy-drinking female role models or 'female-drinker' prototypes to reduce problem-drinking behavior among female drinkers.

Harm from Known Others' Drinking by Relationship Proximity to the Harmful Drinker and Gender: A Meta-Analysis Across 10 Countries.

BACKGROUND: Drinking is a common activity with friends or at home but is associated with harms within both close and extended relationships. This study investigates associations between having a close proximity relationship with a harmful drinker and likelihood of experiencing harms from known others' drinking for men and women in 10 countries. METHODS: Data about alcohol's harms to others from national/regional surveys from 10 countries were used. Gender-stratified random-effects meta-analysis compared the likelihood of experiencing each, and at least 1, of 7 types of alcohol-related harm in the last 12 months, between those who identified someone in close proximity to them (a partner, family member, or household member) and those who identified someone from an extended relationship as the most harmful drinker (MHD) in their life in the last 12 months. RESULTS: Women were most likely to report a close male MHD, while men were most likely to report an extended male MHD. Relatedly, women with a close MHD were more likely than women with an extended MHD to report each type of harm, and 1 or more harms, from others' drinking. For men, having a close MHD was associated with increased odds of reporting some but not all types of harm from others' drinking and was not associated with increased odds of experiencing 1 or more harms. CONCLUSIONS: The experience of harm attributable to the drinking of others differs by gender. For preventing harm to women, the primary focus should be on heavy or harmful drinkers in close proximity relationships; for preventing harm to men, a broader approach is needed. This and further work investigating the dynamics among gender, victim-perpetrator relationships, alcohol, and harm to others will help to develop interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm to others which are specific to the contexts within which harms occur.

Gender and Country Differences in Alcohol-Aggression Expectancy and Alcohol-Related Intimate Partner Violence.

Alcohol use is associated with a higher rate of violent offending among males and a higher rate of violent victimization among females, especially for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Using comparable self-reported data from the GENACIS Project, the present study examines between the United States (n=2,363) and Japan (n=1,660) whether the expected gender difference in alcohol-related IPV is explained by alcohol-aggression expectancy. The results indicate that though males are more likely than females to expect that alcohol would make them more aggressive, alcohol-aggression expectancy has a very little to do with the gender difference in alcohol-related IPV. In both countries, overall, alcohol use of males, irrespective of their alcohol-aggression expectancy, most strongly and directly accounted for the gender difference in alcohol-related IPV.