Gender Differences in Stressful Life Events, Social Support, Perceived Stress, and Alcohol Use Among Older Adults: Results From a National Survey

Abstract

Stressful life events, perceived stress, and social support relationships with consumption, at-risk drinking, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) were studied in a population-based sample of current drinkers age 60+ in the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (Wave 2; 2004–2005; n = 4,360). Stressful life events were associated with AUD among men and women, and crime victimization among men only. However, greater perceived stress was associated with lower consumption among women and greater odds of AUD in men, highlighting differences in the relationship between stress and alcohol use by gender that may be the result of the stress alcohol link.

Life-stress and reactivity by gender in a longitudinal birth cohort at 30 and 35 years

“…As life events distress has been associated with a number of adverse mental and physical health outcomes, it is recommended that health professionals and researchers understand that women may become more distressed, relative to men, when stressful life events occur [1,5,15,17,26,28,32,35,39,44,48,53]. However, this research does not imply that men are unaffected by life events; although life events appear to be particularly distressing for women.…”

“…More recently, interest has focused on understanding the causes and consequences of reactivity to stressful life events [29,50]. As a result, considerable research has amassed on adverse outcomes of distress from life events including, for example: mental health problems [1,26,28,39,44]; alcohol use disorder [48]; obesity [5]; insomnia [17] and physical health problems [32,44,53].…”

Effect of chronic stress on implant osseointegration into rat's mandible

“…The scientific community states that stress is one of the major risk factors contributing to the onset of disease 1 .…”

Exercise capacity is not impaired after acute alcohol ingestion

“…[21][22][23] In general population, not only in alcoholic individuals, alcohol is usually taken to reduce stress. Chronic alcohol drinking can alter circadian functions, which are highly related to the stress response system.…”