Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major public health concern associated with a host of mental and physical health outcomes (Cargiulo, 2007, Grant et al., 2015, Rehm et al., 2009). Recent epidemiologic data show rates of past month problem alcohol use and alcohol use disorder (AUD) appear to be declining across all age groups including adolescent (12–18) and young adult (18–25) subpopulations [Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ), 2015, Johnston et al., 2016]. However, the rates of past month alcohol use (59.6%), heavy use (10.8%), and binge drinking (37.7%) in young adults are still of concern (CBHSQ, 2015). Furthermore, declining overall trends in alcohol involvement are not reflective of trends in alcohol use behaviors in women. In fact, women are closing the gender gap in AUD (Keyes et al., 2008) as young women are increasingly using alcohol and experiencing alcohol-related problems (Johnston et al., 2016). As recent research has highlighted AUD as more severe in women (Foster et al., 2015, Grant et al., 2015) and sex differences in the pathways to alcohol problems are evident (Kendler et al., 2015), further examination of AUD etiology in women is essential.
