Sexuality and women's drinking: findings from a U.S. national study

Alcohol Health & Research World, Spring, 1991 by Sharon C. Wilsnack

The beliefs that alcohol is an aphrodisiac and sexual disinhibitor appear throughout recorded history, from Old Testament scriptures, through ancient Greek and Roman writings and 19th-century temperance tracts, to the present (Sandmaier 1980). Throughout the span of time, most societies also have held women and men to different standards regarding both drinking behavior and sexual behavior. Women violating traditional norms against heavier drinking have been perceived as being likely to violate traditional norms restricting women's sexual expression. This has resulted in a stereotype of the drinking woman as sexually promiscuous or, at least, more sexually responsive or vulnerable.

In contrast to that stereotype, a number of studies of alcoholic women in treatment have reported elevated rates of sexual adjustment problems, including low sexual interest, lack of sexual arousal, and infrequent orgasm (Beckman 1979; Covington and Kohen 1984; Schaefer and Evans 1987; also see the articles by Blume, pp. 139-146, and Goldman, pp. 126-132).

Although cultural and historical beliefs and clinical reports have suggested important links between women's drinking and their sexual experience, few serious studies of such links were undertaken until the past decade. The National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women, a 10-year project, has provided information about how various aspects of women's sexual experience relate to changes in drinking habits and drinking problems over time. The study included a large number of variables--involving personality, environment, and experience--that potentially predict women's drinking behavior. Those variables related to sexuality consistently were found to be among the strongest predictors of drinking behaviors. This article summarizes major findings regarding relationships between sexuality and drinking among women in this national sample.

Design and Methods of the Study

The National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women began in 1981 with a survey of 917 women, repesentative of the adult (older than 21) female population of the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. The sample included 500 women who consumed at least 4 drinks per week. For purposes of comparison, 396 men also were interviewed.

In a 5-year followup survey in 1986, two subsamples of the original sample--problem drinkers and nonproblem drinkers--were interviewed again. The problem drinkers were women who in 1981 had reported at least two of the following three indicators of potential problem drinking: an average consumption of 2 ounces or more of alcohol (about two or more drinks) per day in the past 30 days; one or more drinking-related problems in the past 12 months (driving while intoxicated, job impairment, problems with partner or children); and one or more symptoms of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months (blackouts, morning drinking, inability to decrease or quit drinking). Nonproblem drinkers were women who drank more than once per month in 1981 and reported none of these three indicators of problem drinking.

Ninety-minute interviews were conducted by trained female interviewers from the National Opinion Research Center. The interviews included questions about drinking behavior, drinking contexts, drinking-related problems, and symptoms of alcohol dependence. Interviewers also asked about a large number of possible antecedents and consequences of women's drinking, such as family history of alcohol problems, personality traits, personal values, social roles, stressful events, sexual and reproductive experience, depression, use of other drugs, antisocial behaviors, and interpersonal relationships. All questions were asked face to face, except for those regarding antisocial behavior, sexual experience, sexual dysfunction, and sexual abuse, which were presented in handouts to be completed by the subjects. (Additional details about the surveys can be found in R.W. Wilsnack et al. 1984 and Wilsnack et al. 1991.)

Expectancies about Alcohol and Sexuality

Of the 551 surveyed women who drank at least occasionally in 1981, 60 percent stated that drinking reduces their sexual inhibitions, 62 percent said drinking helps them feel closer to a person with whom they drink, and 69 percent said drinking makes it easier to be open with other people (Figure 1; Klassen and Wilsnack 1986). Forty-five percent stated that drinking makes sexual activity more pleasurable. The women's tendencies to report these positive effects of drinking on sexuality and intimacy increased with increasing levels of drinking, except for the case of feeling closer to others, in which lighter and moderate drinkers did not differ. Eighty percent of women who reported that they drank six or more drinks at least three times per week stated that drinking made them feel less sexually inhibited. The positive relationship between drinking levels and reported effects suggests that expectations of decreased sexual inhibition, enhanced sexual pleasure, and increased interpersonal closeness may be motives for heavier drinking.