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Hungarian Women Sexual and Physical abuse: A Study.
– Reported, January 24, 2012
Netherlands). Therefore cirrhosis mortality is high in Hungary and of these, 77 % is due to alcoholic cirrhosis in women . According to recent studies approximately 2.9% of women can be regarded as heavy drinkers . Of the 15-64 years old female population, 2.9% reported drinking everyday and that about 2% of the female population over 20 years of age can be regarded as alcohol dependent . Studies among hungarian high-school students show that almost 45% of female students have been drunk at least once in their life-time and more than 16% had been drunk in the past month .
Women who drink alcohol usually drink lesser quantities therefore women meet fewer social, occupational, and legal problems than men in the early years of drinking. Studies have shown that even though drinking starts later in women it reaches an end stage sooner than in men, meaning that long-term secondary damage of internal organs occurs earlier . Alcoholic women shorten their lives an average of 15 years and mortality rates increase five times compared to women living in the general population.
High levels of alcohol consumption and irregular or binge drinking in Central- Eastern Europe have been shown to be a risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease .Women drink lower rates of alcohol than man, nevertheless alcohol consumption is also increasing among adolescent women , especially binge drinking, affecting more than two fifths of the college student population . Numerous studies
have shown that early initiation of regular alcohol consumption increases the likelihood of alcohol dependence in adulthood. While individuals younger than 14 years have a 40% likelihood, individuals drinking regularly only after the age of 20 have a 10% chance of dependence . Alcohol consumption has been shown to decline with age, mainly because of the decline in the amount of alcohol consumed . Nevertheless,
older adults with poor psychological well-being, especially depression, were found to be heavy drinkers, even after controlling for sex and age .
Drinking among women is closely connected with social factors, the drinking behaviors of friends and their normative standards . Many times, hazardous use of alcohol is in strong connection with coping with tension , but usually parental and peer behavior has a stronger influence on the health risk behavior of youth .
Results presented in literature show, that certain socioeconomic factors, such as being married or widowed, having lower education, and less egalitarian sex-role attitudes were associated with lower alcohol consumption among women . Late-middle aged female problem drinkers in one study reported more negative life events, more ongoing difficulties with spouses and other family members and less resources from spouses. Davey found frequent drinking behavior among young women who had more liberal and contemporary views on the role of women in society. In contrast, other studies reported heavy drinking among women to be in close connection with chronic stressors, such as unfavorable marital and employment status . In one report marriage was shown to be a risk factor for depression and alcohol consumption in both young and old .
Research studying the relationship between health damaging behavior and depression in women has shown that there is a stronger relationship between depression and drinking behavior among women than men . Gender differences are already seen in adolescence, for example alcohol abuse was found to be in a stronger connection to depression in girls than boys. The quantity of alcohol consumed significantly predicts depression and depression significantly predicts quantity of alcohol over short intervals among females . For example, one study found that increased quantity of alcohol consumed per drinking occasion was associated with increased depressive symptoms among women . A connection between frequency of drinking and psychological symptoms has also been reported. Studies show that abstainers and heavy drinkers had higher depression scores even after controlling for sex, age, and physical health status .Daily or weekend drinking has been associated with low self-esteem and binge drinking was in close connection with
depression.
Credits:
Csilla T. Csoboth, M.D, Prof. Dr. Maria Kopp & Prof. Dr. Péter Rajn.
More Information at:http://phd.sote.hu/mwp/phd_live/vedes/export/csoboth.d.pdf