UCSF

Smaller gender differences in alcohol consumption are often interpreted to mean something about womens drinking, for example, that women are increasing consumption to mens levels. However, prior research is unclear. This study sought to determine whether variation in size of gender differences in alcohol consumption across U.S. states was due to male or female consumption. Data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to test the hypothesis that variation in size of gender differences would be associated with womens, but not mens consumption. Pearsons correlations examined associations between gender-specific values of and gender differences in consumption in each state. The size of gender difference was associated with proportion of female, but not male, drinkers. Conversely, size of gender difference was associated with male frequency, five-plus frequency, volume, and risky drinking, but not female frequency, five-plus frequency, volume, or risky drinking. These findings suggest that smaller gender differences in cross-sectional studies cannot be interpreted as due to womens alcohol consumption.