Among NESARC Wave I participants, 40 percent of women were abstinent in the past year, compared with 32 percent of men. In addition, men reported more drinks per drinking occasion than women (Chan et al. 2007). Likewise, in the 2011 NSDUH, 57.4 percent of men were past-month drinkers compared with only 46.5 percent of women (Wilsnack et al. 2013). Although epidemiologic findings consistently support that men are at increased risk for alcohol consumption, current drinking, and heavy drinking compared with women, this gap is closing in younger cohorts (Keyes et al. 2008, 2010; SAMHSA 2014). As Western social norms continue to shift away from “traditional” gender roles that see women only as homemakers and mothers, women report greater lifetime largest number of drinks consumed in one sitting and greater frequency of binge drinking than they did in earlier surveys, leading to a closing of the gender gap not only in consumption but also in alcohol-related consequences (Keyes et al. 2008, 2010).
