Job instability, especially unemployment, also correlated with use of marijuana and other drugs by both women and men. Among the vast majority of survey respondents over age 12 who had used alcohol at least once during their lifetime, slightly more were male (NIDA 1993) (table 1). This pattern also was true for the approximately two-thirds of respondents who had used alcohol during the previous year and the one-half who had used it during the previous month. Rates for males and females over age 18 who had consumed alcohol during the past year were most similar in the age group of 18 to 25. Women have less hemoglobin (a component of red blood cells that carries oxygen to the cells) than men. Menstruating women have even lower hemoglobin levels because of monthly blood loss, which can sometimes cause anemia.
Neuropsychiatric Disorders
This study continues the efforts to conceptualize and operationalize intersectionality in public health research and contributes to a developing body of literature that applies intersectionality theory to understand health disparities 3,4,5,6,7,8. We provide empirical data to support the “intersectionality paradox” argument and suggest that researchers should not assume that health risks increase with each additional minority status. Future studies should distinguish between and jointly assess intersecting social positions (e.g., identities) and processes (e.g., Women and Alcoholism interpersonal experience of discrimination or forms of structural oppression). Given the large number of potential identities (e.g., sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, age, weight, religion, immigration status) and experiences that can be related to these identities, we recommend that researchers use robust theory and evidence to guide their selection of variables. Attention should also be paid to model constructions in order to make intersectional effects visible to readers.
The Connection Between Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence
- The screening questionnaire for the current study included a brief description of the study and asked for initial interest in participating before asking screening questions.
- Gender roles influence how people perceive themselves and how they interact with others.1,2 Sex and gender can also interact with each other to create even more complex differences among people.
- Women who drink more than light to moderate amounts of alcohol (more than about 7 drinks a week) are at increased risk of car accidents and other traumatic injuries, cancer, hypertension, stroke, and suicide.
- For example, women who abuse large amounts of alcohol tend to have drier mucous membranes, which results in abrasions and small tears that allow HIV easier access to the bloodstream during intercourse (Norris and Hughes 1996).
- The purpose of the study was to assess women’s substance use, mental health, and experiences of COVID-19 pandemic impacts.
- These may be more helpful than mixed-gender programs for some women, such as those who have suffered sexual or physical abuse.
Central to the intersectionality theory is the idea that multiple social identities at the micro-level (e.g., race, sex, or social class) are linked to macro- and structural-level inequalities (e.g., racism, sexism, and poverty) 3, 4. Minority stress theory posits that individuals with membership in a minority group will experience unfair treatment due to their group membership 13,14,15. Similar to intersectionality theory, minority stress theory hypothesizes that discrimination plays an important role in explaining health disparities between dominant and minority groups. Multivariable regressions were conducted on cross-sectional data from 2315 Black and White college students.
Emerging trends in gender-based violence
Our study provides evidence for how experience of discrimination was a strong predictor of higher depressive symptoms and higher substance use for female young adults as well as how patterns of influence of intersecting experience of discrimination on these outcomes differed between male and female young adults. Compared to those experiencing no discrimination, women experiencing a single form of discrimination had higher depressive symptoms and higher odds of using tobacco products and marijuana. Experiencing of both forms of discrimination put women at higher depressive symptoms and higher substance use than experiencing only a single form of discrimination. Compared to men who did not experience discrimination, those who experienced either racial or sexual orientation discrimination had higher depressive symptoms, but we did not observe any effect of experiencing both forms of discrimination. Thus, research and initiatives to address discrimination and prejudices should pay close attention to the deleterious impacts of discrimination on women’s health, and future studies should continue to investigate effects of different types of discrimination and variations of effects between men and women. The relationship between alcohol consumption and HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is different from that with other infectious diseases.
- For all sites where alcohol’s causal role in cancer is established, there is evidence of a dose-response relationship, with relative risk rising linearly with an increasing volume of alcohol consumption (Corrao et al. 2004).
- HCV-positive women undergoing treatment should talk to their medical advisor about ribavirin (one of the treatment medications for HCV) and its connection to hemolytic anemia—a type of anemia that causes red blood cells to burst before the body has a chance to use them.
- Specific questions about marijuana, cocaine, and heroin use also were asked to estimate a comparison of these drugs’ prevalence to each other as well as to assess multiple substance use in the population.
- Sex differences in neuroendocrine adaptations to stress and reward systems may mediate women’s susceptibility to drug abuse and relapse 53.
- Already young girls have many more risk factors than boys, and they have more extensive problems in various aspects of life, which increases the risk of serious drug use problems in adulthood 8.
- For example, a commonly seen approach is when studies report a poorer health outcome or increased health risks for a minority group, they often hypothesize that the differences may be due to impacts of interpersonal discrimination, without actually including a measure for discrimination 30, 31.
The reasons for relapse in alcohol use are different for men and women; women tend to relapse to cope with negative affect, whereas men relapse due to social pressure to drink 12••. No clear differences have been described in terms of pharmacological response in alcohol treatments (naltrexone and acamprosate). Also, in the case of prescription opioid addiction, no differences in terms of response have been described 15. Also, the effects of pandemics on women’s mental health have been studied; one study performed in Wuhan showed that women presented more post-traumatic stress symptoms in the domains of re-experiencing, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and hyper-arousal 8. In comparison with men who are alcohol dependent and female controls (women who are not dependent on alcohol), women who are alcohol dependent exhibit deterioration in planning, visuospatial ability, working memory, and psychomotor speed.
Data analysis
For this reason, recovery from a substance use disorder may not be possible unless client survivors improve their self-esteem, sense of competence, and ability to make sound decisions. Survivors must get to the point where they can recognize and take advantage of their options and alternatives before they can replace their substance use with positive coping strategies. Not only are women less able to tolerate the effects of alcohol than men, they are also less likely to seek specific help to overcome any drinking problems they develop.
This class of drugs includes, among others, heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone, fentanyl and oxycodone. The most common hallucinogens are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and phencyclidine (PCP). Synthetic cannabinoids, also called K2 or Spice, are sprayed on dried herbs and then smoked, but can be prepared as an herbal tea. Despite manufacturer claims, these are chemical compounds rather than „natural” or harmless products. These drugs can produce a „high” similar to marijuana and have become a popular but dangerous alternative. Two groups of synthetic drugs — synthetic cannabinoids and substituted or synthetic cathinones — are illegal in most states.
Effects on Pregnancy and the Fetus
In the case of nicotine, women and men are equally likely to become addicted to nicotine, yet women typically smoke cigarettes with lower nicotine content than those smoked by men, smoke fewer cigarettes per day, and inhale less deeply than men 78. Females report positive mood increases to a greater extent after nicotine smoking and show a great decline in a positive mood during smoking abstinence than men. Providing moral support and hope to clients of obtaining the best possible results by maintaining treatment.
Women’s deviance is thought to be channeled into internalized distress (e.g., feeling isolated, distrustful, or helpless) and manifested externally in emotional upset. Robbins’ study demonstrated (in accordance with alcohol and other drug abuse patterns seen in other studies reviewed here) that more women reported depressed and anxious moods. Under these conditions, men increased their marijuana use by one-half or more during the 21 days of the study when marijuana was available (Babor et al. 1974). These experiments showed that men’s marijuana smoking appeared to be influenced by availability.
Substance use, childhood traumatic experience, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in an urban civilian population
It also happens that even the closest family members are opposed to them when seeking help, not believing in their powerlessness to undertake sustained abstinence on their own 45. Some women feel guilty about their loved ones and try to reduce their guilt by ignoring and hiding their substance use and rationalizing their behavior by claiming that the pleasurable effects of drugs are more attractive and more important than a drug-free life 46. Despite the diverse regions of the world and cultural backgrounds, the publications identified many circumstances in common, which allowed them to characterize the most significant barriers, needs, and challenges for women struggling with problems resulting from drug abuse. We included a detailed description regarding the selected publications (authors, year of publication, scope of study, sample size, and results) in the table in the supplementary materials. When analyzing the subjective effects of drugs, sex could be a modulating factor in mental and addictive disorders 71, but results are controversial, with some studies showing no differences between men and women, others describing more subjective effects in men whereas others showed greater effects in women 16••. Women entering substance abuse treatment programs present a more severe clinical profile attending to social, medical, psychological, and psychiatric comorbidities.