Colleges are pretty smart when it comes to alcohol safety education on campus. After officially accepting Boston University as my college of choice, I was immediately directed to fulfill certain requirements like health forms and complete a course on alcohol consumption. Being a rather sheltered child, I had never been exposed to much alcohol (other than the occasional beers I see my dad drink). I knew the consequences of being drunk because there were so many assemblies about drunk driving or texting while driving. Consequently, I was pretty intrigued with the mandatory course on alcohol consumption. I learned a lot about: about how much one serving of alcohol was for different types of drinks, how alcohol prevents you from being cognizant, and what you can do if you find someone intoxicated.
After I joined a club on campus that mandated a workshop on alcohol, I learned more about other factors that affect one’s blood alcohol concentration such as weight, birth sex, food, strength of drink, rate of drinking, and drug use. There is one particular exercise that I always look forward to — it involved creating a fictional girl (as my club was a sorority) and mapping out a regular Friday night for her going out to drink. We would figure out her BAC levels using an online BAC Calculator. At the end of the workshop, we were also handed little cards comparing BAC levels between men and women.
After the facts and this exercise, I would be reminded that alcohol affects women a lot faster than it does for men. And, this got me thinking about the relationship between substance abuse and gender.
Sex vs Gender
Before we dive into how gender affects alcohol addiction and drug abuse, I want to clear up some definitions. Sex refers to the physical, biological characteristics that we are born with while gender refers to societal roles set by our society.. For my post, I will be using gender to identify the same sexual and gender characteristics.
Substance Use in Men and Women
Substance use differs between men and women because of our their physical bodies as well as their gender roles in society. There are different motivating factors as well as genetic dispositions that influence how one becomes addicted to drugs and/or alcohol
Mental Health
Without a doubt, there is a strong correlation between mental health and substance abuse. Unfortunately, according to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, women are 70 times more likely than men to be diagnosed with major depression and twice as likely to develop an anxiety disorders. This means that women are more likely to abuse prescription drugs that have be prescribed for their anxiety disorders or depression. In another sense, women are also more likely to self-medicate than men especially when prescription opioids can be help decrease the fatigue from work, child care, and household chores.
Physical Differences
According to research, women are more likely to anticipate pleasure and rewards with drugs due to their estrogen levels. When they take drugs, estrogen trigger receptors that help women feel the effects of the substances a lot faster than it does for women. For example, women have a harder time giving up smoking because their bodies metabolize nicotine faster and the nicotine patches and gum are unable to work as effectively as they do for men.
While estrogen helps women seek after the pleasure aspect of drugs and alcohol, male brains release a greater amount of dopamine from alcohol than women.
In terms of alcohol, women and men also metabolize alcohol very differently. Men have a higher concentration of a particular enzyme that helps metabolize alcohol, thus they sober up faster than women.
Drug use can increase infertility in both men and women. In women, it can even hasten the onset of menopause. Women should also not use drugs when pregnant because the drugs can pass on to their children through the blood system and their breast milk
Societal Roles
One of the reasons why men continue to use drugs and consume alcohol is because these actions reinforce their masculinity. On the flip side, women participate in the consumption of drugs and alcohol as a socializing event.
Addiction Treatment
Drug addiction had been studied from a male perspective and that means a lot of prevent programs and rehab facilities have been designed for men. Now that there has been more research done on the effects of both men and women, we know that men and women need different types of treatment.
Women are often better at identifying and acknowledging their problems and taking the necessary steps to get help for their conditions. However, at the same time, wanting to go in for treatment can be very difficult if they have a family to worry about. Some might even hide the fact that they have a problem fearing that they could possibly lose custody of their children. Women are also prone to a higher rate of relapse, so they should be put in contact with people who can help navigate those situations should they arise. An ideal environment will allow women to feel supported and empowered, provide quality child care options on site, and lead by women.
When approaching treatment, men have a harder time acknowledging that they have a problem and that they need help. This may be because of our society’s ideals on masculinity. Consequently, the only way they can be motivated to accept treatment is if they are faced with ultimatums such as prison, divorce, loss of custody, or loss of employment/enrollment.
Having gender-specific treatment programs allows men and women to feel comfortable opening up about sensitive issues and be free of distractions that the opposite sex could pose.