Alcohol Use Among Girls

According to SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), male and female rates of alcohol use among 12- to 17-year-olds were similar in the early 1990’s for the first time.¹ Girls are beginning to drink at younger ages than ever before. In the 1960’s, 7 percent of new female users of alcohol were ages 10 to 14, but by the early 1990’s, that figure had risen to 31 percent.²

Prevalence of Alcohol Use in Girls

• According to SAMHSA’s 1998 NHSDA, 38 percent of girls ages 12 through 17 reported ever using alcohol. Nearly 19 percent of these adolescent girls reported using alcohol in the past month compared with 20 percent who reported past - month alcohol use in the previous year.³



• This survey also indicates that nearly 7 percent of girls ages 12 through 17 reported binge drinking (having five or more drinks in a row at least once in the past month).⁴



• Overall, white non-Hispanic girls ages 12 to 17 reported the greatest levels of lifetime, past-year, and current use when compared with black non-Hispanic and Hispanic girls. Black non-Hispanic girls reported the lowest levels of alcohol use. In the past month, 22 percent of white non-Hispanic girls, 16 percent of black non-Hispanic girls, and 18 percent of Hispanic girls reported using alcohol.⁵

Some Risk Factors for Girls Who Use Alcohol

Many of the reasons why adolescents drink are gender blind, but some factors may affect girls more than boys.

• Puberty tends to bring a higher incidence of depression among teenage girls, which can trigger alcohol use.⁶ One study found symptoms of depression in one in four girls – a rate that is 50 percent higher than in boys.⁷



• Adolescent girls who are heavy drinkers (drink five or more drinks in a row on at least 5 different days in the past month) are more likely than boys to say that they drink to escape problems or because of frustration or anger.⁸



• Friends have a big influence on teenagers overall, but girls are particularly susceptible to peer pressure when it comes to drinking. Adolescent girls are more likely than boys to drink to fit in with their friends, while boys drink largely for other reasons and then join a group that also drinks.⁹



• Girls often are introduced to alcohol by their boyfriends,¹⁰ who may be older and more likely to drink.

Why do Males and Females Respond Differently to Alcohol?

Females process alcohol differently than males; smaller amounts of alcohol are more intoxicating for females regardless of their size. Three physiological differences may explain this:

• Females have less body water than males. When people drink, alcohol spreads into the water in their bodies. Because females have smaller amounts of body water to dilute the alcohol, they have higher concentrations of alcohol in their blood than males have after drinking identical amounts of alcohol.²⁰



• An enzyme that is important in metabolizing or processing alcohol works differently in females than in males. In males, the enzyme – called alcohol dehydrogenase – breaks down much of the alcohol in the stomach so that less of it enters the circulatory system. In females, the enzyme is less active.²¹



• Changing hormone levels during the menstrual cycle may affect the rate of alcohol metabolism in females.²²

For comparative information, please see SAMHSA’s Alcohol Use Among Boys fact sheet.

Sources

¹ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse Among Women in the U.S., Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996.

² Ibid.

³ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Main Findings 1997, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999.

⁶ The Commonwealth Fund, The Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls, New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1997.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Donovan, J.E., “Gender differences in alcohol involvement in children and adolescents: a review of the literature,” Women and Alcohol: Issues for Prevention Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Research Monograph No. 32, Bethesda, MD, 1996.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Jacob, T., and Leonard, K., “Family and peer influences in the development of adolescent alcohol abuse,” Development of Alcohol Problems: Exploring the Biopsychosocial Matrix of Risk, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Research Monograph No. 26, Bethesda, MD, 1994.

¹¹ Grant, Bridget F., “The Impact of a Family History of Alcoholism on the Relationship Between Age at Onset of Alcohol Use and DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence, Results From the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey.” National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Epidemiologic Bulletin No. 39, Alcohol Health and Research World, Volume 22, No. 2, 1998.

¹² The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, Substance Abuse and the American Woman, New York: Columbia University, June 1996.

¹³ Cu-Uvin, S., et al., “Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome among North American women,” American Journal of Medicine, Volume 101 (3): 1996.

¹⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Critical Need to Pay Attention to HIV Prevention for Women: Minority and Young Women Bear Greatest Burden,” CDC Update, June 1998.

¹⁵ Office of the Inspector General, Youth and Alcohol: Dangerous and Deadly Consequences, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1992.

¹⁶ Windle, M.A., “Alcohol use, suicidal behavior, and risky activities among adolescents,” Journal of Research on Adolescence, Volume 2(4): 1992.

¹⁷ Wilsnack, S.C., Wilsnack, R.W., and Hiller-Sturmhofel, S., “How women drink: epidemiology of women’s drinking and problem drinking,” Alcohol Health & Research World: Women and Alcohol, Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1994.

¹⁸ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol and Women, Alcohol Alert No. 10, 1990.

¹⁹ Woodside, M., Henderson, B.W., Samuels, P.N., Parental Consent: Helping Children of Addicted Parents Get Help, New York: Children of Alcoholics Foundation, 1991.

²⁰ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol and Women, Alcohol Alert No.10, 1990.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Ibid.

SAMHSA, a public health agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government’s lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States. Further information about SAMHSA is available on the Internet at www.samhsa.gov.
  

DID YOU KNOW?

** Early onset drinking is a major risk factor for developing alcohol abuse or dependence.¹¹

** Teenage girls who are heavy drinkers are five times more likely to engage in sexual intercourse and a third less likely to use condoms, which can result in pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,¹² including HIV/AIDS. Women make up the fastest-growing segment of the population infected with HIV in the United States,¹³ and adolescents and young women are at particularly high risk.¹⁴

** Alcohol is involved in up to two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes among adolescents and college students.¹⁵

** Among 8th grade girls who drink heavily, 37 percent report attempting suicide – compared to 11 percent who do not drink.¹⁶

** Girls who are sexually abused are twice as likely to develop drinking problems later.¹⁷

** Regular, heavy drinking has been associated with menstrual problems that can have a negative effect on fertility, such as pain, heavy flow, and irregular or absent periods.¹⁸

** Daughters of alcoholics are at increased risk for alcoholism. They are also more likely to marry men who are alcoholics.¹⁹