Researchers with St. Louis' Washington University School of Medicine have determined that women who begin drinking at a younger age face an increased likelihood of becoming dependent upon alcohol later in life.

"An early age at the onset of drinking is a strong predictor of subsequent alcohol dependence," said Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D., who authored the study. "About one in three individuals who start drinking at age 17 or younger become alcohol dependent. For those who wait until age 21 or older, that number is one in ten."

Grucza, an assistant professor of psychiatry at WU, was quoted in a press release about the study that was posted on the school's website:

"In our previous work, we found that women born after 1944 had a substantially higher risk for alcohol dependence compared to those born prior to that. Now we have found that women born during this 'high risk' period also began drinking earlier than their predecessors, and this earlier drinking might explain the higher rates of alcoholism.


As the age of drinking onset got lower for women, the rates of alcohol dependence increased. ...There is a lot of discussion about whether the minimum drinking age should be lowered again. Our findings would suggest that from a public-health point of view, lowering the legal drinking age might lead to increased rates of alcohol dependence."

Grucza and his team analyzed data that had been compiled during the 1991-1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey and the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which was completed in the early 1980s.

The results of the study are scheduled to be published in the August 2008 edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Learn about The Value of Gender-Specific Addiction Programs.

Labels: addicts, drinking, girls

Recovery from an addiction is hard for both men and women. But women often have unique sets of issues that can make recovery much more difficult. Many women who have been sexually or otherwise physically abused turn to drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms. They often suffer from nearly-debilitating depression. Add to that the victimization that can happen to a woman who's trying to 'score' her next hit, and women seeking to recovery are often broken emotionally and psychologically.

"Those pieces don't magically mend just because someone puts down the drink or the drug. In some cases, the withdrawal of the substance can cause all of those old psychological wounds to being to fester anew. And those issues... have implications as to how much a person is able to recover."

Unfortunately, most recovery programs are based on male experiences. Alcohol Anonymous' 12-Step program, for example, can conflict with the ways that women are often taught to deal with domestic violence.

Copper Canyon Academy is a private boarding school for girls in Arizona. Learn more about their residential treatment program for struggling girls.

Labels: addicts, girls, recovery