Gender-specific drinking styles in alcoholics and nonalcoholics.

This study examined sex differences in drinking style when considering both alcoholics and nonalcoholics (controls). The Alcohol Use Inventory was employed as a descriptive instrument. Of the 16 primary scales two results of significant interaction were obtained indicating sex differences in problem drinking practices corrected, as it were, for sex differences in normal drinking practices. Female alcoholics used alcohol to alter their mood more than did the alcoholic men, whereas women in the control group used it less for this purpose than did the male controls. The second interaction effect indicated that female alcoholics drank in response to marital difficulties much more than did male alcoholics. The control women, by contrast, demonstrated less of a likelihood to drink for this reason than did male controls.