A study in Australia has found that career gals tend to be overachievers, but not in the way you're thinking -- they're going shot for shot at the pub to impress male colleagues. "A lot of business started to be conducted at lunches, dinners and after hours," explained lead researcher Janice Withnall. "A lot of career women in their 20s think they need to drink like the boys to get ahead. Suddenly, they hit their 30s and realize they are not in control." Researchers here have caught on to how women are catching up with men at the bar, but it's starting well before they step out into the real world.
Unfortunately, it's led to a boom in the number of middle-aged women suffering from alcohol problems. The University of Western Sydney found that 16 percent of women between the ages of 35 and 55 struggle with alcoholism, though one researcher thinks it's closer to 25 percent. And the same researchers also said earlier this year that it's harder for women in that age group to beat alcohol dependency because of the pressures of work and raising a family.
The U.S. is seeing a rise in alcohol abuse among women, too. Between 1999 and 2002, more than 19,000 women, compared with about 16,000 men, were screened for alcohol abuse at federally funded clinics at colleges.
According to epidemiological studies of alcohol abuse, 3.31 percent of American women between the ages of 30 and 44 abused alcohol in 2001-02, up from 1.50 percent in 1991-92. For women between 18 and 29, the number was 4.57% in 2001-02, an increase from 3.83 percent a decade before. It's also been reported that hard drinking brings on earlier and more severe health effects in women than in men. Click here to read more about alcohol abuse.
Tell us: Is your job making you drink more?
