Alcohol consumption varies across gender and race/ethnicity. Across the world, men consume more alcohol than women, and women in more developed countries drink more than women in developing countries (Rehm et al. 2009). American men are much more likely than women to use alcohol (56.5 percent vs. 47.9 percent, respectively), to binge drink (30.4 percent vs. 16 percent, respectively), and to report heavy drinking (9.9 percent vs. 3.4 percent, respectively) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMSHA] 2013). (Binge drinking is defined here as the number of instances in the past 12 months that women drank 4 or more drinks and men drank 5 or more drinks within a 2-hour period.) Among racial and ethnic groups, Whites report the highest overall alcohol use among persons age 12 and over (57.4 percent). American Indian/Alaska Natives report the highest levels of binge drinking (30.2 percent), followed by Whites (23.9 percent), Hispanic/Latinos (23.2 percent), African Americans (20.6 percent), and Asians (12.7 percent) (SAMHSA 2013). Alarmingly, according to two nationally representative samples, trends in alcohol misuse increased among both men and women and
