Drinking and drinking-related problems among heterosexual and sexual minority women.
OBJECTIVE
Studies of alcohol use among lesbians have typically used convenience samples with uncertain generalizability or general population samples with small numbers of lesbians. Here we compare rates of high-risk and problem drinking in a large sample of Chicago-area lesbians and a national sample of age- and education-matched urban heterosexual women.


METHODS
Data came from comparable face-to-face interviews with 405 self-identified Chicago-area lesbians and with 548 urban women from a U.S. national sample. Rates of hazardous drinking (heavy episodic drinking, intoxication, drinking-related problems, alcohol-dependence symptoms) were compared for exclusively heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian, and exclusively lesbian subgroups.


RESULTS
Exclusively heterosexual women had lower rates than did all other women on all measures of hazardous drinking. Exclusively heterosexual women also reported less childhood sexual abuse, early alcohol use, and depression. Bisexual women reported more hazardous drinking indicators and depression than did exclusively or mostly lesbian women.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that sexual minority women are likely to have elevated risks of hazardous drinking. The differences between lesbian and bisexual women suggest that more attention is needed to subgroup differences among sexual minority women. Health care providers need to know the sexual identity of their patients and how their sexual identity may affect their risks for hazardous drinking. Higher rates of childhood sexual abuse, early drinking, and depression among sexual minority women suggest that these experiences may be important in assessing and treating problems related to their drinking, and in developing prevention and early intervention strategies.
Wilsnack
Sharon C
SC
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, PO Box 9037, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-9037, USA. swilsnac@medicine.nodak.edu
Hughes
Tonda L
TL
Johnson
Timothy P
TP
Bostwick
Wendy B
WB
Szalacha
Laura A
LA
Benson
Perry
P
Aranda
Frances
F
Kinnison
Kelly E
KE
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data