Factors+Associated+With+Alcoholism+In+Women


 * __Health:__**


 * "Alcoholic liver disease**: Women are more likely than men to develop alcoholic hepatitis (liver inflammation) and to die from cirrhosis.


 * Brain disease**: Most alcoholics have some loss of mental function, reduced brain size, and changes in the function of brain cells. Research suggests that women are more vulnerable than men to alcohol-induced brain damage.


 * Cancer**: Many studies report that heavy drinking increases the risk of breast cancer. Alcohol also is linked to cancers of the digestive track and of the head and neck (the risk is especially high in smokers who also drink heavily).


 * Heart disease**: Chronic heavy drinking is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. Among heavy drinkers, women are more susceptible to alcohol-related heart disease, even though women drink less alcohol over a lifetime than men.**"** (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochurewomen/women.html


 * __Race:__**

A woman’s ethnic origins and the extent to which she adopts the attitudes of non-traditional vs. her native culture influence how and when she will drink.


 * Caucasian:** heavy drinking and drinking problems most common in younger age groups


 * African American:** drinking problems more common in middle age than in youth


 * Hispanic:** Non-traditional women more likely to drink and drink heavily (at least once a week and at 5 or more drinks at one time)


 * __Psychological:__**


 * Relationships:** Drinking heavily is common among women who have never gotten married, living common law with a partner, or are separated or divorced. “The effect of divorce on a woman’s later drinking may depend on whether she is already drinking heavily in her marriage.” (NIAA, 2008). Research has found that women that have trouble with close relationships have a tendency to drink more than other women. It is suggested that a woman is more likely to over drink than other women when her husband is a heavy drinker.


 * Mental Illness:** If a women has suffered from childhood sexual abuse she is more likely to have drinking problems, research suggests. Mental illness, more specifically depression, is linked closely to heavy drinking in women. It has also been found that women who drink when at home and are alone are more likely than most to develop drinking problems.

Men drink more than women, but among the heaviest drinkers women are equal to or even surpass men in the amount of issues that can result from drinking. “. For example, female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics, including deaths from suicides, alcohol-related accidents, heart disease and stroke, and liver cirrhosis.” (NIAA, 2008)

Intelligent and Smart Women More Prone to Alcoholism. (n.d.). //Intelligent and Smart Women More Prone to Alcoholism//. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://trendsupdates.com/intelligent-and-smart-women-more-prone-to-alcoholism/