NBC News (11/24, Fox) reports a study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), using data from 2002 to 2012, found that US women are drinking more while men are drinking a little less. This is an “especially clear trend among college students.” NIAAA researcher Aaron White said, “Males still consume more alcohol, but the differences between men and women are more diminishing.” The percentage of women who had an alcoholic drink in the past 30 days increased from 45 to 48 percent, while the percentage of men decreased from 57.4 to 56 percent. The number of days women consumed alcohol also increased from 6.8 days to 7.3 days on average, while men drank on 9.5 days, down from 9.9 days a month.
The Connecticut Post (11/24, Cuda) adds that White and his team found that binge drinking by 18 to 25 year olds in college did not change during the decade, but “among 18 to 25 year olds not in college, there was a significant increase in binge drinking among females and a significant decrease among males, effectively narrowing the gender gap in binge drinking in this age group.” The NIAAA also found that among 18 to 25 year old male drinkers, the behavior of mixing alcohol with marijuana increased 15 to 19 percent, while the percentage among female drinkers remained at about 10 percent.
Researchers noted that the rates of alcohol use disorder and driving under the influence did not increase for women during the decade, LiveScience (11/24, Miller) reports. Medical Daily (11/24, Smith) says the study was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
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— “Male, Female Drinking Habits Becoming More Similar: Study,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, November 23, 2015.