The usual notion suggests that women are less likely to drink more, especially after becoming a parent. However, according to a new study that analysed drinking patterns in men and women suggested that women continued to binge drink even after tuning parents.
The study took place after a widespread increase in binge drinking was observed. The study also stated that heavy drinking declined or remained stable in all groups, except for older women, between the age 45-55 who didn’t have children.
The researchers of the study were interested in the phenomenon of “mommy drinking” and whether women who became parents showed an increase in their drinking frequency.
One of the startling results found was the rise in binge drinking was also observed in women between 30-44 years of age without children - 21 per cent in 2006 which shifted to 42 per cent in 2018.
Even though people having children reported consistently lower levels of binge drinking than those without children; yet nearly all groups increased binge drinking in the past decade, stated the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine.
"Our study demonstrated that trends in binge and heavy drinking over time were not differentiated by parenting status for women; rather, declines and increases over time were mainly attributable to sex and age," said senior author Katherine M. Keyes, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology.
"We observed that men and women who parent, drink less than those who do not, and men who parent, drink more than women who parent," Keyes added.
"Moms are often subject to increased scrutiny regarding their own health, and how their decisions impact the health of their children," said lead author Sarah McKetta, MD/PhD candidate at Columbia Mailman School's Department of Epidemiology.
"Although heavy drinking has either decreased or stabilized for most groups, binge drinking is still common and is becoming even more prevalent," said McKetta.
