Stressful Life Events and Alcohol Abuse in Women: A General Population Study

Summary Many authors have argued that women may be precipitated into problem drinking by the experience of stressful life events. Mid‐life may be a period of particular susceptibility to life events. Previous studies have suffered from significant methodological inadequacies. A random sample of 230 women from the general population were interviewed. Their experience of life events was carefully and systematically determined. No associations between life event indices and alcohol consumption were detected either for women in general or for women during mid‐life. Methodological explanations for the failure to detect significant associations were considered. It was concluded, however, that no substantial relationship existed between the experience of life events and elevated alcohol‐consumption in a normal population. The life event hypothesis may have arisen because of the need for a ‘special’ explanation of female alcohol abuse.