r for Health Statistics in 1988, significant gender differences were found in three areas as pointed out by Dawson and Archer (1992). The first significant difference pertained to the number of male and female current drinkers. Roughly 64% of all men were current drinkers in comparison to 41% of all women. The second and third significant differences concerned the quantity of alcohol consumed. Men were more likely to (a) consume alcohol on a daily basis and (b) be classified as heavy drinkers. Men's daily average of ethanol intake (17.5 grams per day) was almost twice as high as women's (8.9 grams per day). Even when an adjustment for body weight was made (females require less ethanol than males to achieve a similar increase in blood alcohol level), men's consumption was still 53% greater than women's. With regards to drinking classification, males were classified substantially more often than females as heavy drinkers (i.e. the number of males who drank five or more drinks a day was 88% greater than the corresponding number of females). Furthermore, as the classification measures became stricter so did the disparity between male and female heavy drinkers increase (i.e., the ratio of male to female heavy drinkers increased by a factor of 3 as the definition of heavy drinker was changed from five drinks or more a day to nine drinks or more a day).Gender as a Moderating Factor of StressTo understand why men and women drink differently requires an understanding of the prevailing socialization practices (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1976; Horwitz & White, 1987). According to this sociological view, "women have been socialized to internalize distress, whereas men have been socialized to externalize distress" (Cooper, Russell, Skinner, Frone, & Mudar, 1992; P. 140). Therefore, women tend to cope with stress by utilizing personal (internal) devices such as emotion, rather than impersonal (external) devices such as alcohol, which are used more ofte...
