Interesting study. I wonder why.
Risk of Problem Drinking Rises Among Thirty-Something Women
This growing trend in women who are delaying or foregoing parenting is contributing to an increase in women at highest risk for excessive alcohol use, according to a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Katherine Keyes, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Public Health, is senior author of the study.
Published in the journal Addiction(link is external and opens in a new window), the study found that women in their mid-30s, as well as women who have not had children by age 35, are the subgroups of women at highest risk of binge drinking and having alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms.
The study is the first to consider the impact of delayed parenting on excessive alcohol use among newer generations of middle-aged women. The findings underscore the need to address excessive drinking among all women, but particularly among this expanding group of women without children.
“Because more women are delaying having children in the U.S., a growing proportion of women fall into the highest risk group,” says study lead author Rachel Sayko Adams, research associate professor of health law, policy & management at BUSPH. “This growing prevalence of heavy drinking is exacerbated given that excessive alcohol use is increasing overall for middle-aged women in more recent cohorts. Therefore, at-risk alcohol use and consequences are expected to continue increasing in future years, if not addressed.”
https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/risk-problem-drinking-rises-among-thirty-something-women