Comparative Study of Alcoholism & Its Risk Factors in Male and Female Drinkers

Abstract

Consumption of alcohol is quite common. In many families, it has become a trend to drink. As Indian society is getting attracted towards the western culture, many norms and values are being transformed. During 1992-2012, the per capita consumption of alcohol in India has increased by whopping 55%, the third highest increase in the world, after Russian Federation and Estonia. Alcohol abuse is a major public health problem globally. It is a causal factor in more than 60 major types of diseases; these majorly include several types of cancer, hemorrhagic stroke and hypertensive heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis and neuropsychiatric diseases. Results of recent research that have demonstrated that brain development continues well into early adulthood and that alcohol consumption can interfere with such development. Alcohol consumption factors among males and females are uniquely different except one or two factors like peer-pressure and identity crisis and comparison between the quantity taken will be studied. The present paper discusses about the difference that occurs among males and females drinking patterns of alcohol. The paper has quantitative and qualitative analysis for the present comparative study of male drinkers and females drinkers. Thus, the questionnaires used will be AUDIT-C, to assess the consumption of alcohol be the participants, and then those participants who tend to consume alcohol will be assessed on Severity of Alcohol dependence questionnaire (SADQ), and a questionnaire for the qualitative analysis. The findings have been interpreted in light of the changing socio-cultural context and different risk factors for males and females drinkers.