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Gender Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Outcomes: An Empirical Review

Received: 9 July 2015     Accepted: 17 July 2015     Published: 20 July 2015
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Abstract

The present empirical review focuses on the gender differences of alcohol consumption and the course of alcohol related outcomes. As epidemiological findings indicate alcohol use and abuse is much higher in males than females. However, there is a “paradox”, women start consuming alcohol much later in life and develop faster adverse alcohol related outcomes than men. Several research findings support this tendency for general pathology and also for brain structure alterations. The purpose of the present study is to give an insight about the course and the outcome of alcohol abuse between genders, by presenting empirical research findings of earlier research (1980s-1990s), and more up to date research (2000s), with the main focus the brain morphological alterations.

Published in Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12
Page(s) 4-7
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Alcohol, Gender Differences, Adverse Outcomes

References
[1] S. Nollen-Hoeksema, and L. Hilt, “Possible contributors to the gender differences in alcohol use and problems,” The Journal of General Psychology, vol. 133, pp. 357-374, October 2006.
[2] R. C. Kesler, “The national comorbidity survey (NCS) and its extensions,” In Textbook of Psychiatric Epidemiology, M. T. Tsuang, M. Tohen, and P. B. Jones, Eds., Oxford, UK: Willey-Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2011, pp. 221-237.
[3] B. F. Grant, and D. A. Dawson, “Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: results from the national longitudinal alcohol epidemiologic survey,” Journal of Substance Abuse, vol. 9, pp. 103-110, 1997.
[4] D. W. Hommer, R. Momenan, E. Kaizer, and R. R. Rawlings, “Evidence for a gender-related effect of alcoholism on brain volumes,” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 158, pp. 198-204, February 2001.
[5] A. Diehl, B. Croissant, A. Batra, G. Mundle, H. Nakovics, and K. Mann, “Alcoholism in women: is it different in onset and outcome compared to men?” European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 257, vol. 6, pp. 344-351, July 2007.
[6] M. Oskar-Berman, and K. Marinkovic, “Alcohol: effects on neurobehavioral functions and the brain,” Neuropsychology Review, vol. 17, pp. 239-257, September 2007.
[7] A. Pfefferbaum, M. Rosenbloom, A. Deskhmuck, and E. V. Sullivan, “Sex differences in the effects of alcohol on brain structure,” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 158, pp. 188-197, February 2001.
[8] K. Mann, K. Ackerman, B. Croissant, G. Mundle, H. Nakovics, and A. Diehl, “Neuroimaging of gender differences in alcohol dependence: are women more vulnerable?” Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 29, pp. 896-901, May 2005.
[9] R. Jacobson, “Female alcoholics: a controlled CT brain scan and clinical study,” British Journal of Addiction, vol. 81, pp. 661-669, May 1986.
[10] K. Mann, A. Batra, A. Gunther, and G. Schroth, “Do women develop alcoholic brain damage more readily than men?” Alcohol Clip Exp Res, vol. 16, pp. 1052-1056, December 1992.
[11] F. Dunne, “Are women more easily damaged by alcohol than men?” British Journal of Addiction, vol. 83, pp.1135-1136, October 1988.
[12] M. De Lacoste, T. Adesanya, and D. Woodward, “Measures of gender differences in the human brain and their relationship to brain weight,” Biol Psychiatry, vol. 28, pp. 931–942 December 1990.
[13] S. Breedlove, “Sexual dimorphism in the vertebrate nervous system,” Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 12, pp. 4133–4142, November 1992.
[14] S. Clarke, R. Kraftsik, H. van der Loos, and G. Innocenti, “Forms and measures of adult and developing human corpus callosum: is there sexual dimorphism?” Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol. 280, pp. 213–230, February 1989.
[15] L. S. Allen, M. F. Richey, Y. M. Chai, and R. A. Gorski, “Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being,” The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 11, pp. 933-942, April 1991.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Koinis Aristotelis, Mousouros Alexandros, Mermigkas Konstantinos. (2015). Gender Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Outcomes: An Empirical Review. Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care, 1(1), 4-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12

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    ACS Style

    Koinis Aristotelis; Mousouros Alexandros; Mermigkas Konstantinos. Gender Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Outcomes: An Empirical Review. J. Fam. Med. Health Care 2015, 1(1), 4-7. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12

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    AMA Style

    Koinis Aristotelis, Mousouros Alexandros, Mermigkas Konstantinos. Gender Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Outcomes: An Empirical Review. J Fam Med Health Care. 2015;1(1):4-7. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12,
      author = {Koinis Aristotelis and Mousouros Alexandros and Mermigkas Konstantinos},
      title = {Gender Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Related Outcomes: An Empirical Review},
      journal = {Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care},
      volume = {1},
      number = {1},
      pages = {4-7},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20150101.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfmhc.20150101.12},
      abstract = {The present empirical review focuses on the gender differences of alcohol consumption and the course of alcohol related outcomes. As epidemiological findings indicate alcohol use and abuse is much higher in males than females. However, there is a “paradox”, women start consuming alcohol much later in life and develop faster adverse alcohol related outcomes than men. Several research findings support this tendency for general pathology and also for brain structure alterations. The purpose of the present study is to give an insight about the course and the outcome of alcohol abuse between genders, by presenting empirical research findings of earlier research (1980s-1990s), and more up to date research (2000s), with the main focus the brain morphological alterations.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AB  - The present empirical review focuses on the gender differences of alcohol consumption and the course of alcohol related outcomes. As epidemiological findings indicate alcohol use and abuse is much higher in males than females. However, there is a “paradox”, women start consuming alcohol much later in life and develop faster adverse alcohol related outcomes than men. Several research findings support this tendency for general pathology and also for brain structure alterations. The purpose of the present study is to give an insight about the course and the outcome of alcohol abuse between genders, by presenting empirical research findings of earlier research (1980s-1990s), and more up to date research (2000s), with the main focus the brain morphological alterations.
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life, Department of Nursing, Sparta, Greece/ Psychiatric Department, General Hospital of Argolida, University of Peloponnese, Argos, Greece

  • Psychiatric Department, General Hospital of Argolida, Argos, Greece

  • Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life, Department of Nursing, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece

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