Sex Differences in the First Drinking Experience

Abstract

Previous work has indicated a relationship between ambivalent attitudes toward drinking and the development of alcohol addiction. Cultural factors are thought to be among the determinants of these attitudes, and they can be inferred through examination of early drinking experiences. Because of the known sex difference in the incidence of alcoholism, inquiry was made into the first drinking experience of about 800 men and women college students. It was predicted that more men than women would have had an anxiety-producing experience on the occasion of the first drink. The basis of this prediction is the approximate 11 to 2 ratio of men to women alcoholics in the U. S. Results tend to confirm the prediction. Although more women than men remembered the first drink, they rended to have had it in the protection of the family, to have had small amounts with intoxication rare.