Study: Female Professionals More Likely to Be Problem Drinkers

A new study from Europe finds that highly educated professional women are the heaviest and most frequent female drinkers, Politics Daily reported Dec. 21.

Researchers at the University of Lancaster in England found that heavy drinking among women in the U.K. and Denmark was more prevalent among those with higher household incomes. Women in managerial and professional occupations drank the most frequently and engaged in more binge drinking, researchers said.

Experts said that advertising aimed at women, the “wine culture” that developed in the economic boom of the 2000s, and bans on public smoking that drove more drinking in private all may have contributed to the trend. Prevention messages that have encouraged “civilized” drinking at home, aimed at curbing public partying by young and working-class citizens in the U.K., may have unintentionally reinforced unhealthy drinking habits by more affluent women, researchers added.

The findings were published in the December 2009 issue of the Probation Journal.