The Order of Alcohol-Related Life Experiences

Abstract

The pur pose of this study was to test hy poth e ses con cern-ing gen der dif fer ences among men and women di ag nosed with al cohol-re lated prob lems. The in stru ment was ad min is tered to sub j ects from a hos pi tal-based al co hoi ism treat ment pro gram as well as from Al ccr holies Anon y mous (A A) and Women for So bri ety (WFS). Women ex peri enced eight of the hy poth e sized 12 more woman-spe cific items ear lier in their drink ing ca reers than did men. ANOVAs per formed on the frequency of al co hol-re lated life events re vealed sig nif i cant differ ences between women and men on seven items. There were clear gender differ ences with re gard to the se quence and fre quency of al co hol-re lated life ex pe ri ences. On the ba sis of the pre lim i nary find ings, the au thors pro pose to ere ate and test a woman-spe cific al co hoi ism-screen ing in stru-ment.

Key Words:

• Gender differences
• alcohol problems
• life events
• women
• drink ing ca reers