$2.7M Federal Study: Why Do Lesbians Have Higher 'Risk for Hazardous Drinking'?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) - The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $2.7 million to study why lesbians are at a higher “risk for hazardous drinking.”

The University of Illinois has received grants since 2009 for its project, "Cumulative Stress and Hazardous Drinking in a Community of Adult Lesbians," which aims to develop “culturally sensitive” strategies to prevent lesbians from being drunks.

“Studies using both probability and nonprobability samples provide ample evidence of lesbians' vulnerability to hazardous drinking,” the grant’s description reads. “However, very little is known about the factors that increase lesbians' risk for hazardous drinking.”

“We propose to build on and extend our study of sexual identity and drinking… to model effects of cumulative stress on hazardous drinking among lesbians.”

The researchers theorize that lesbians report higher rates of traumatic events, making them more likely to engage in hazardous drinking, which has been defined by NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as “more than 7 drinks per week or more than 3 drinks per occasion for women.”

Furthermore, the problem may be worse for “lesbians of color,” the researchers say.

The grant states that there are “chronic stressors unique to sexual minorities, creating cumulative stress that may be compounded in lesbians of color.”

The study is being led by Tonda Hughes, professor at the Department of Health Systems Science at the University of Illinois, an “internationally recognized expert in the area of alcohol use among lesbians,” according to the University.

The researchers are using a sample of 384 adult lesbians—50 percent of whom are a racial or ethnic minority—who were interviewed in 2000 and 2004, and a new panel of 250 lesbians. The grant states that the new panel was oversampled with Black and Latina lesbians, and young lesbians ages 18 to 25.

The specific aims of the study include: “to test models of the relationships between cumulative stress and hazardous drinking in lesbians,” and “the relationships between early and later risk factors and hazardous drinking.”

The study will try to determine whether childhood sexual abuse, “sexual- minority stressors,” and “racial/ethnic-minority stressors” predict hazardous drinking in lesbians, and which lesbians are at the highest risk.

“Findings will have important scientific and public health implications for identifying groups at greatest risk for hazardous drinking and for developing culturally sensitive prevention and intervention strategies,” the grant states.

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That's their story and they're sticking to it...

[righteousmomma]

Maybe they just need a good man.

[Valin]

Maybe they just need a good man.

 

Maybe its being around women all the time?

 

"I was in love with a beautiful blonde once, dear. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I'm so indebted to her for."

 

WC Fields: Never Give a Sucker an Even Break