A prospective study of self-esteem and alcohol use disorders in early adulthood: evidence for gender differences.

The relations among gender, self-esteem, and DSM-III alcohol use disorder diagnoses were examined in a sample of 217 men and 240 women evaluated at four annual assessments over the college years. The results support clinical observations that low self-esteem plays a particularly important etiological role in alcohol problems in women relative to men. Women who had an alcohol use disorder during years 3 and/or 4 showed relatively low levels of self-esteem throughout the study period. Furthermore, the study provides clear evidence for prospective prediction from year 1 self-esteem to year 4 alcohol use disorder diagnosis for women, but not for men. There was minimal evidence to suggest that alcohol use predicts later self-esteem.