Aims-To evaluate multinational patterns of gender-and age-specific alcohol consumption.Design and participants-Large general-population surveys of men's and women's drinking behavior (N's > 900) in 35 countries in 1997-2007 used a standardized questionnaire (25 countries) or measures comparable to those in the standardized questionnaire.Measurements-Data from men and women in three age groups (18-34, 35-49, 50-65) showed the prevalence of drinkers, former drinkers, and lifetime abstainers; and the prevalence of highfrequency, high-volume, and heavy episodic drinking among current drinkers. Analyses examined gender ratios for prevalence rates and the direction of changes in prevalence rates across age groups.Findings-Drinking per se and high-volume drinking were consistently more prevalent among men than among women, but lifetime abstention from alcohol was consistently more prevalent among women. Among respondents who had ever been drinkers, women in all age groups were consistently more likely to have stopped drinking than men were. Among drinkers, the prevalence of high-frequency drinking was consistently greatest in the oldest age group, particularly among men. Unexpectedly, the prevalence of drinking per se did not decline consistently with increasing age, and declines in high-volume and heavy episodic drinking with increasing age were more typical in Europe and English-speaking countries.Conclusions-As expected, men still exceed women in drinking and high-volume drinking, although gender ratios vary. Better explanations are needed for why more women than men quit drinking, and why aging does not consistently reduce drinking and heavy drinking outside Europe and English-speaking countries.

A theoretical synthesis proposes that gender roles may amplify biological differences in reactions to alcohol, and that gender differences in drinking behavior may be modified by macrosocial factors that modify gender role contrasts.

Context-There is consensus in the research literature that substance use disparities exist among sexual minority women and men; however, few studies have examined risk factors that may contribute to these disparities.Aims-To compare reports of life-time victimization experiences in a US national sample of adult heterosexual and sexual minority women and men and to examine the relationships between victimization experiences and past-year substance use disorders.Design, participants, measurements-The secondary data analyses used 2004-05 (wave 2) National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) data collected in structured diagnostic face-to-face interviews in the United States. Substance use disorders (SUDs) were defined according to DSM-IV criteria and included past-year alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, drug abuse and drug dependence. The sample consisted of 34 653 adults aged 20 years and older; approximately 2% of the respondents self-identified as sexual minority (lesbian, gay or bisexual).Findings-Results showed strong associations between victimization and any past-year SUDs and confirmed findings from several previous studies indicating that, compared with heterosexuals, sexual minority women and men are at heightened risk for life-time victimization. However, prevalence of the seven victimization experiences and the degree of association between individual victimization experiences and SUDs varied substantially across sexual minority subgroups. The childhood victimization variables-especially childhood neglect-showed the strongest and most consistent associations with SUDs. Odds of SUDs were generally higher among both female and male respondents, regardless of sexual identity, who reported multiple NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAddiction. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 December 1. (two or more) victimization experiences than among those who reported no life-time victimization, suggesting a possible cumulative effect of multiple victimization experiences.Conclusions-Higher rates of life-time victimization, particularly victimization experienced in childhood, may help to explain higher rates of substance use disorders among sexual minorities. However, more research is needed to understand better the complex relationships among sexual orientation, victimization and substance use.

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InroducionLongitudinal research on general population samples is essential for predicting the onset and chronicity of problem drinking, but has not been adequately applied to the study of women drinkers.

This study assesses whether severity of physical partner aggression is associated with alcohol consumption at the time of the incident, and whether the relationship between drinking and aggression severity is the same for men and women and across different countries. National or large regional general population surveys were conducted in 13 countries as part of the GENACIS collaboration. Respondents described the most physically aggressive act done to them by a partner in the past 2 years, rated the severity of aggression on a scale of 1 to 10, and reported whether either partner had been drinking when the incident occurred. Severity ratings were significantly higher for incidents in which one or both partners had been drinking compared to incidents in which neither partner had been drinking. The relationship did not differ significantly for men and women or by country. We conclude that alcohol consumption may serve to potentiate violence when it occurs, and this pattern holds across a diverse set of cultures. Further research is needed that focuses explicitly on the nature of alcohol’s contribution to intimate partner aggression. Prevention needs to address the possibility of enhanced dangers of intimate partner violence when the partners have been drinking and eliminate any systemic factors that permit alcohol to be used as an excuse. Clinical services for perpetrators and victims of partner violence need to address the role of drinking practices, including the dynamics and process of aggressive incidents that occur when one or both partners have been drinking.

Aims-Although research shows that sexual minority women report high rates of lifetime sexual victimization and high rates of hazardous drinking, investigators have yet to explore the relationships between sexual victimization and hazardous drinking in this population. In addition, because rates of these problems may vary within the sexual minority population, we examined and compared relationships between sexual victimization and hazardous drinking in exclusively heterosexual and sexual minority (mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian and exclusively lesbian) women.Method-Data from 548 participants in the National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women and 405 participants in the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women study were pooled to address these relationships. We compared hazardous drinking, childhood sexual abuse (CSA), adult sexual assault (ASA), and revictimization (both CSA and ASA) across the five sexual identity subgroups. We then fit a multilevel general linear model to examine group differences in the relationships between hazardous drinking and sexual victimization and to test for potential interactions between victimization and identity on hazardous drinking.Results-Sexual minority women reported higher levels of hazardous drinking and higher rates of CSA and sexual revictimization than did exclusively heterosexual women. Revictimization was NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript the strongest predictor of hazardous drinking among women who identified as mostly heterosexual and mostly lesbian.Conclusions-This study extends previous research by examining associations between sexual victimization and hazardous drinking in heterosexual and sexual minority women and by exploring within-group variations in these associations among sexual minority women. Higher rates of lifetime sexual victimization and revictimization may help to explain sexual minority women's heightened risk for hazardous drinking. The findings highlight the need for additional research that examines the meanings of sexual identity labels to more fully understand differences in risk within groups of sexual minority women as well as how sexual identity may affect responses to and interpretations of sexual victimization.