Women executives turn to alcohol more than male peers

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 01 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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If you are a woman executive you are more like to have an alcohol problem than a woman in a more junior position. This is according to a news study.

A female executive is more likely to resort to alcohol than male executives of the same or similar grades.

The survey was carried out at University College London (UK).

Some suggest the extra stress experienced by these women as they try to compete with men for executive posts is part of the reason.

You can read about the survey in the journal Occupational Environmental Medicine.

The researchers looked at 8,000 employees. They all worked in the public sector. The eight thousand consisted of men and women at different executive levels in 20 departments in London (government departments).

10-12% of men had a drinking problem. This percentage was no different from junior clerical to senior executive grades.

The women had very different percentages depending on their executive grades.

Females at junior levels (clerks) were less likely to have a drinking problem than their male peers. At the top end (top senior grades) the women overtook the men.

Women in the top grades were 14% likely to have a drinking problem. Women working in the lowest clerical grades had a 4% chance.

The people in the survey were asked various questions. Such as, what are the demands of your job, what are your levels of support at work and at home, how much can you influence decisions, and how much authority do you have to make decisions?

Points were given (in this survey) which reflected for the amount of effort the employees made and the returns they got in order to achieve promotion, more pay and a feeling of being valued.

The aim of the researches was to see if there is a link between stress and alcohol dependence, according to Jenny Head, team leader. Jenny is Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at London University College.

She said 'It may be the stress for women of working against a glass ceiling is to blame. It may be that women feel they have to compete on an equal footing and take on male roles and behaviours. People who find they put in effort and don't feel they are getting rewards are more at risk of becoming a problem drinker. We have already shown that stressful conditions at work can lead to poorer health for people. This is just another way that stress can impact on health. They are also turning to alcohol because they feel they are not being adequately rewarded for their efforts.'

Asked whether this was a general trend, Jenny Head said that it is too early to tell.

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