Prevention Works!

Women, Men, and Drinking Alcohol: Different Results

Many young women begin drinking alcohol when they arrive on a college or university campus in response to the increased demands for high academic performance, new social pressures, recreation, or relaxation.

Research has shown that 35 percent of college women drink with the intention of becoming intoxicated. According to the Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and Universities Report from Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, there are increasing numbers of college women participating in binge drinking, where they consume four or more alcoholic drinks within a short period of time. (A standard drink is one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof hard liquor.)

What many young women do not know is that alcohol affects their bodies differently than it does a man’s. While a male student can drink two beers and not be impaired, the same amount of alcohol in a woman can produce significant side effects that are potentially damaging. In addition, since women respond to the chemical substances in alcohol differently than men do, there are unique risk factors for women that should be addressed.

Facts about women and alcohol:

• Women have a smaller quantity of dehydrogenase (an enzyme that breaks down alcohol) than men, so they become intoxicated quicker and remain so longer. Premenstrual estrogen level increases cause women to become intoxicated even faster right before their period. (In fact, alcohol consumption itself increases estrogen levels.) In addition, medications with estrogen (such as birth control pills) can increase women’s alcohol susceptibility.
• Heavy drinking can lead to menstrual disorders, including infertility and early menopause.
• Because a woman has a lower total body water content than a man, she will have higher concentrations of alcohol in her blood than a man after drinking the same amount.
• The bad effects of alcohol on the liver are worse for women than men.
• Drinking alcohol increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
• Violence towards women, such as rape and spousal abuse, can affect emotional factors, causing levels of depression and post-traumatic stress that increase a tendency to consume alcohol.
• College-age women, ages 18-34, report higher rates of drinking-related problems than do older women.
• Sixty percent of college women who have acquired sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, were under the influence of alcohol at the time they had intercourse.
• Alcohol is involved in 90 percent of all campus rapes.
• Women in college are more susceptible to secondhand effects of binge drinking, such as having study or sleep interrupted, participating in serious arguments, and having to care for intoxicated friends.

For more information on women and drinking, visit SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information website at: http://ncadi.samhsa.gov or call toll-free at 1-800-729-6686.

Sources: Commission on Substance Abuse at Colleges and Universities Report (1994), National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York, NY. "How Alcohol Has Different Effects on Men and Women," National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information.
"College Drinking," Alcohol Alert, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1995), No. 29H PH 357.
"Alcohol and Women," Alcohol Alert, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (1990), No. 10 PH 290.

Alcohol Alerts are published by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and are available online at: http://silk.nih.gov/silk/niaaa1/publication/alalerts.aspx. Copies of the Alcohol Alert are available free of charge from the Scientific Communications Branch, Office of Scientific Affairs. NIAAA, Willco Building, Suite 409, 6000 Executive Boulevard, Bethesda, MD 20892-7003. Telephone: 301-443-3860.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov

Return to Table of Contents for Volume I
Return to Table of Contents for Volume II
Return to Top of Page