www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Drinking alcohol may help put you to sleep, but as the night wears on—and the booze wears off—you may find yourself tossing and turning. This may be especially true if you’re a woman, according to a new study.
Women who go to bed tipsy sleep much less soundly than men who have the same blood-alcohol content (BAC), the study found. Whereas alcohol had only a minor impact on men’s sleep, the female study participants slept more fitfully and for less time after a night of drinking than they did when they were sober. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/16/11) news.health.com, 02/15/11

Women who are satisfied with everyday life and are involved in leisure activities rarely have problems with alcohol, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Occupational therapist Christina Andersson, who wrote the thesis, has looked at how everyday life affects alcohol consumption as part of the wider Women and Alcohol in Gothenburg (WAG) population study which has been ongoing at the Sahlgrenska Academy since the mid-1980s. (Source: Medical News Today, 02/08/11)

● Of the estimated 188,981 alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits made by patients aged 12 to 20
in 2008, 70.0 percent involved alcohol only, and 30.0 percent involved alcohol in combination with other drugs
● Illicit drug use was indicated in more than two thirds (68.4 percent), and pharmaceutical drugs were involved
in more than one half (55.1 percent) of ED visits involving alcohol in combination with other drugs among patients aged 12 to 20
● Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 3 in 10 (30.2 percent) alcohol-related ED visits made by females involved other drugs, whereas more than 2 in 10 (22.9 percent) of such visits were made by males; among young adults aged 18 to 20, about one third of such visits made by both males (31.9 percent) and females (33.3 percent) involved other drugs
● Of patients aged 12 to 20 who made alcohol-related ED visits involving other drugs, nearly two thirds (64.5
percent) had no evidence of follow-up care (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/27/11) dawninfo.samhsa.gov, 01/13/11

In 2008, there were a number of posts on this blog about a rape at the University of Iowa that was terribly mishandled by the school. In the aftermath of publicity about the school’s “poor judgment,” a number of changes were made. The university president publicly apologized, two administrators involved in the case were fired, and the sexual assault policy was revised. A new article (in a Texas newspaper, the Victoria Advocate, oddly enough) following-up on the case also shows that in 2009 the school hired a sexual misconduct response coordinator who was trained to assist victims and make sure they “get treated with care.” So, despite the inexcusably abysmal immediate response for the survivor, the school seems to have taken a number of admirable actions to make sure that such a disaster never happens again. (As an aside, the outcome for the two perpetrators was that one plead guilty to misdemeanor assault and the other was found guilty of misdemeanor assault). … (Source: Google Alcohol News, 01/26/11) by Sarah M in: Campus news,General commentary safercampus.org, 01/25/11 our Online Comment: Talking about alcohol in the context of rape makes sense. Most of sexual violence has to do with alcohol. To reduce harm is one way to tackle the problem. Having lessons on sexual violence is an other way which is necessary too. But to start with the most effective measure is good. The other question is if the University finds the right way to reduce alcohol consumption on the campus. Most of the Universities haven’t found yet a good solution, because there is a lot of money involved. E.g. advertising. There’s a new study this month.

News from different countries, worldwide, 01/25/11

Only two in five adults (42%) recognise how many alcohol units are in common drinks, according to research by Drinkaware. The survey also found that less than a third of adults (29% of women and 32% of men) can correctly state the recommended daily unit guidelines for their respective gender. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 01/15/11) alcoholpolicy.net, 01/13/11

There is an essay in this month’s The Atlantic called “The Hazards of Duke: A now infamous PowerPoint presentation exposes a lot about men, women, sex, and alcohol—and about how universities are letting their female students down” by Caitlin Flanagan, likely of interest to feminist philosophers.
There a few themes in the article but one of them is the increased rates of drinking among college aged women. I haven’t heard much about this before and I’m interested to know what blog readers make of the article. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 01/14/11) feministphilosophers.wordpress.com, 01/13/11 with our Online-Comment

Males and females show different patterns of cognitive impairment when blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) are high. To investigate whether gender differences persist at low BACs, cognitive impairment was tested in 21 participants (11 female, 10 male) using a brief computerized perceptual judgment task that provides error rate and response time data. … Males and females displayed a trend toward slower responses and more errors, even when mildly intoxicated. These data indicate that cognitive function can be impaired at BACs that are below the legal limit for driving in most countries. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/22/10)

Multiple studies have shown that risk for lifetime alcohol dependence is higher in those who initiated drinking at an earlier age; however, few studies have examined this relationship by sex and race subgroups.
The purpose of this study is to investigate sex and race differences in age at first drink and development of alcohol dependence. This study uses data from Wave I of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a nationally representative sample of 43,093 adults. Those meeting DSM-IV criteria for lifetime alcohol dependence (12.5%) were included in the current analyses. Linear regression was used to compare men and women and Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics on ages at first drink and onset of dependence. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/17/10)