It is a popular belief that men when stressed, find solace in excessive drinking. However, new research has found that this is wrong. Instead, the study says that stress, more than that of men, drives women into excessive drinking. The study has been published in the ‘Psychology of Addictive Behaviors Journal’.
Men who experienced the same stress only drank to excess when they had already started consuming alcohol.
Though rates of alcohol misuse are higher in men than women, women are catching up. Women also have a greater risk than men of developing alcohol-related problems.
Participants consumed alcoholic beverages in a simulated bar while experiencing stressful and non-stressful situations. Stress led women, but not men, to drink more than intended, a finding that demonstrated the importance of studying sex differences in alcohol consumption.
“Some people can intend to have one or two alcoholic beverages and stop drinking, but other people just keep going. This impaired control over drinking is one of the earliest indicators of alcohol use disorders, and we know stress contributes to both impaired control over drinking and dysregulated drinking. The role of stress in impaired control over drinking is understudied, especially in women,” said Julie Patock-Peckham, assistant research professor at ASU and lead author on the study.
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