Social opportunity and alcohol abuse in women: temporal and structural differences in drinking contexts of nonclinic and clinic female drinkers.
This study examined the contextual drinking patterns of two groups of women drawn from larger samples of nonclinic (from a survey of drinking practices in metropolitan Boston) and alcoholic (from a Boston hospital outpatient alcoholism clinic) women. Clinic women, although reporting an equal number of drinking events as nonclinic women, consume more alcohol in settings outside the normative sphere of influence, thus maximizing the likelihood of drinking in response to internal demands or those of a heavy drinking social intimate. Differences obtained between lighter and heavier drinker categories within the nonclinic group suggest that those women who drink in contexts where heavy drinking is encouraged may be at risk for alcohol abuse. The data are discussed relative to the assumption that increased exposure to and participation in heavy drinking contexts may lead to an increase in alcohol abuse among those nonclinic women who respond to the structural demands of drinking contexts.
Hanna
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Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02114.
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012931:Social Environment; D012932:Social Facilitation; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers