Drunken driving by women requires new tactics

Last week, startling statistics were released about women and driving under the influence (DUI). According to the report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 28.8% more women were arrested for DUI in 2007 than a decade earlier. In contrast, men’s DUI arrest rates went down 7.5% during the same period. Read more about the report

Here in Maine, it’s nice to see the Portland Press Herald is taking notice of America’s growing issues with women and drinking. A little over a week after publishing a Maine Voices article from Crossroads for Women responding to the Diane Schuler tragedy, editor and publisher Richard L. Connor wrote a column about the need for better understanding of women and drinking to prevent further tragedies behind the wheel. The link below is from today’s Monday Opinion.

Drunken driving by women requires new tactics | Portland Press Herald

New Study Shows Alcohol Triggers Higher Stress Response in Women’s Brains

Past studies have continually shown the women react to alcohol differently than men. They tend to metabolize alcohol more quickly and are subject to greater health effects as a result of regular drinking.

A study out of Idaho State University is taking a look at gender-specific differences in the way the brain reacts to alcohol. According to Dan Selvage, the researcher conducting the 5-year study, “Females tend to suffer the ravages of alcoholism much more quickly than males,” Selvage said. “Part of that’s due to metabolism, but another part of that is thought to be that alcohol activates body stress responses a lot more in females.”

Using rats as his subjects, Selvage has found that higher estrogen levels are linked to an increased stress response. This stress response prevents the person’s body from responding to the problem, thus causing more health problems. Selvage noted that alcohol tends to decrease testosterone secretion in males, but increases estrogen production in females.

Since women have more stress-related disorders, studies like these can help guide the way to gender-specific medical treatments for alcohol abuse.

Read More
Alcohol May Affect Women’s Brains More (AP)

technorati tags: women, brain, alcohol, stress, health

Do you know how many calories your alcoholic drink contains?

A study coming out of England shows that both men and women underestimate the amount of calories an alcoholic drink contains. According to the study, which was part of the government’s Know Your Limits campaign, the average wine drinker in England now consumes around 2,000 calories monthly from alcohol alone. That’s about the same as consuming 184 bags of chips over the course of a year!

Of the women surveyed, 42% were unaware that a glass of wine was the caloric equivalent of eating a bag of chips. In fact, it pointed out that 2 large glasses of white wine actually give a woman nearly a fifth of her daily calorie allowance and put her over the recommended daily limit for alcohol consumption. The study also noted that drinkers typically eat more than they usually would when they are drinking. They also tend to eat less healthy.

“It’s not only the calories in the drinks themselves that can help to pile on the pounds, we’re also more likely to eat fatty foods when we’ve had one too many,” says Health Minister, Phil Hope. “To avoid piling on the pounds we should try to drink within the recommended limits, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.”

Read more about the study

technorati tags: drinking, alcohol, calories

Women, drinking, sexual assault and perceptions

There have been some interesting studies recently published regarding women and drinking. It’s always interesting to find studies with female participants since so few in the past have looked at gender differences in relation to substance abuse. Here are some highlights and links:

CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) reported that more than 20% of sexual assaults were drug-facilitated in a study that looked at data from 882 victims at 7 different hospital-based sexual assault/domestic violence treatment centers in Canada. Almost 90% of the victims self-reported having alcohol right before the assault, and 30% had taken prescription or illicit drugs at least 72 hours before the assault. In addition, victims were more likely to be employed and from an urban area. The study concluded that education and public awareness campaigns around the effects of alcohol, especially combined with drugs, is needed.

Read the press release: More than 20 percent of sexual assaults drug-facilitated (from CMAJ)
View the study details: Factors associated with suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault (from CMAJ)

Another study looked at the stigma of mental illness and how gender played a role in people’s perceptions of a person with a mental health disorder. The national survey found that people held more anger and disgust for a stereotypical alcoholic who was male, but showed less sympathy toward the woman when she showed classical symptoms of major depression. The results showed that respondents’ perceptions played into the stereotypes that men are more likely to be violent alcoholics and women are more likely to be depressed and “pathologically dependent.”

Read more: His and Hers: Study Examines the Role of Gender in the Stigma of Mental-Illness (from Association for Psychological Science)

Finally, a recent survey of 3,616 college students at 2 American universities concluded that women overestimate the amount of alcohol they think men want them to consume. And those that overestimate this amount tend to drink excessively as a result. These findings illustrate that a woman’s belief that men find excessive drinking sexually attractive and appealing, found in previous studies, is a misperception.

Read more: Young Women May Be Drinking Heavily To Get Attention Of Opposite Sex, But Men Not Impressed (from Science Daily)

technorati tags: women, research, alcohol, mental illness, sexual assault, drinking