ood group A in Pueblo, Colorado. Other researchers did not achieve similar results when replicating the study in Finland (Goodwin and Guze, 1972).With more promising results, neurotransmitter-related enzymes such as dopamine beta-hydroxylase and monoamine oxidase have been linked to alcoholic tendencies. These enzymes have been found to possibly affect the health and psychological consequences of drinking as well (Murray and Gurling, 1980). Mentioned later, aldehyde dehydrogenase genes also play a significant part in incidences of alcoholism. Women and AlcoholMany of the studies evidenced in this paper deal exclusively with male subjects, this is due in large part to the fact that men seem to be at a greater risk for alcoholism than women are. The idea that women are less likely to become alcoholics is supported by some, but dismissed by others as the fact that perhaps no one has been asking the right questions regarding women and alcohol. However, there have been tests exclusively designed to gauge the relationship between women and alcoholism. Female alcoholics differ from male alcoholics in several ways that often seem to explain why the issue was largely neglected for decades. Women generally become alcoholics later in life when the addiction is easier to conceal. Women often experience psychological or emotional problems in conjunction with alcoholism, masking the specific issue of drinking. Alcoholism is hereditary in women as well, but apparently to a lesser extent (Goodwin, 1981). It has been reported that among heavy drinkers in the United States men outnumber women 4 to 1 (Roebuck and Kessler, 1972), but it is notable that men are more likely than women to drink in public while women may stay out of sight, possibly skewing results. This trend of males being heavier drinkers than females continues in other countries and cultures as well. In Native American populations an alcohol related diagnosis from Indian Healt...
