There's Been a Reversal of the Binge-Drinking Gender Gap

Young Americans aren't drinking as much alcohol as previous generations, says Dr. Bryant Shuey, a physician at the University of Pittsburgh, but he's noticed a concerning trend among those who do indulge. Shuey and other researchers say that in a reversal of past trends, women 18 to 25 are now binge drinking more often than men the same age, per ABC News. In a research letter published in the journal JAMA, Shuey and his colleagues say that from 2017 to 2019, 36.4% of young women reported binge drinking in the previous month, versus 37.7% of young men. From 2021 to 2023, however, the figures were 31.6% of women versus 29.9% of men in the age group.

The researchers used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, with binge drinking defined as a man having five or more drinks in one sitting, and a woman having four or more. Among older age groups, men were still significantly more likely to report binge drinking. It's not clear whether the reversal of the gender gap among young people is the result of a faster decline in drinking among young men, researchers say. Shuey says the trend has "big implications" for health and that there should be greater awareness of the risks of alcohol abuse, per ABC. "We need more education around the harms of alcohol use and how the same amount can pose greater health risks for women than men," he says.

"Given rising alcohol-related liver disease and mortality among females relative to males, clinicians should ensure that young adult female populations are being appropriately screened for binge and heavy drinking to mitigate downstream alcohol-related health impacts," researchers wrote in the letter. As for the overall decline in drinking among young people, addiction expert Johannes Thrul at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health tells NPR that the culture is changing and drinking is no longer as commonly accepted as a "normal part of development" as it used to be. Another possible factor: During the pandemic, many young people missed out on a lot of socializing at the age when lifelong drinking patterns are often established. (More binge drinking stories.)