Arlinda F. Kristjanson

Gender and alcohol consumption: patterns from the multinational GENACIS project.

AIMS To evaluate multinational patterns of gender- and age-specific alcohol consumption. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Large general-population surveys of mens and womens drinking behavior (ns > 900) in 35 countries in 1997-2007 used a standardized questionnaire (25 countries) or measures comparable to those in the standardized questionnaire. MEASUREMENTS Data from men and women in three age groups (18-34, 35-49, 50-65) showed the prevalence of drinkers, former drinkers, and lifetime abstainers; and the prevalence of high-frequency, high-volume, and heavy episodic drinking among current drinkers. Analyses examined gender ratios for prevalence rates and the direction of changes in prevalence rates across age groups. FINDINGS Drinking per se and high-volume drinking were consistently more prevalent among men than among women, but lifetime abstention from alcohol was consistently more prevalent among women. Among respondents who had ever been drinkers, women in all age groups were consistently more likely to have stopped drinking than men were. Among drinkers, the prevalence of high-frequency drinking was consistently greatest in the oldest age group, particularly among men. Unexpectedly, the prevalence of drinking per se did not decline consistently with increasing age, and declines in high-volume and heavy episodic drinking with increasing age were more typical in Europe and English-speaking countries. CONCLUSIONS As expected, men still exceed women in drinking and high-volume drinking, although gender ratios vary. Better explanations are needed for why more women than men quit drinking, and why aging does not consistently reduce drinking and heavy drinking outside Europe and English-speaking countries.

Prevalence and risk factors for childhood sexual abuse in women: national survey findings.

OBJECTIVE We interviewed a U.S. national sample of women, aged 18 years and older to determine the prevalence and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse. We also examined which family and background variables were predictive of CSA in this sample. METHOD The study employed a series of detailed descriptive questions regarding childhood sexual experiences that were administered in a highly structured format by trained female interviewers. CSA prevalence rates were calculated using two definitions of CSA, one of which was slightly more inclusive. RESULTS Prevalence rates for the more inclusive CSA definition ranged from 21% to 32%, depending on how respondents who provided incomplete information about their sexual experiences were classified. The less inclusive CSA definition resulted in prevalence rates ranging from 15% to 26%. Additional information about the types of abuse experienced, perpetrator characteristics, age at first abuse, and physical and affective consequences of the abusive experiences are reported. The risk of CSA was related to higher scores on a measure of fathers rejection, and the interaction between parental drinking status and whether the respondent had lived with both parents during childhood. Further analysis of this interaction suggests that when respondents reported living with both biological parents, they were most at risk for CSA when their father was a nondrinker and their mother was a drinker.

Longitudinal Predictors of Binge Eating, Intense Dieting, and Weight Concerns in a National Sample of Women

As part of an ongoing longitudinal study of the antecedents and consequences of womens drinking in the U.S. adult female population, women who participated in a 1991 survey provided data in 1996 about their experiences of binge eating, intense dieting, and weight concerns ( N = 709, ages 26 to 54 in 1996). Five percent of the women reported binge eating in the past 30 days, 29% reported that they had engaged in intense dieting or fasting in the past 3 months, and 1.5% of the women met criteria for nonpurging bulimia nervosa (binge eating and intense dieting). Forty-three percent reported that their weight and shape were either very important or more important than anything else. After controlling for 1991 occurrence of binge eating, predictors of binge eating in 1996 were past 12-month use of illicit drugs (mostly marijuana) and greater occurrence of drinking to intoxication. A body mass index (BMI) × 1991 binge eating interaction indicated that having a higher BMI in 1991 predicted the onset of binge eating by 1996, but it did not predict the continuation (chronicity) of binge eating 5 years later. Year 1991 predictors of intense dieting in 1996 were having weight concerns, being unmarried, having used illicit drugs in the past 12 months, and having parents who had more than a high school education. Only a younger age in 1991 and having a lower BMI predicted 1996 weight concerns, after controlling for weight concerns 5 years earlier. These results indicate that risk factors for the onset and chronicity of disordered eating behaviors and attitudes across longer time periods in adult women may differ considerably from predictors found in cross-sectional studies or studies of adolescent females.

Self-reports of forgetting and remembering childhood sexual abuse in a nationally representative sample of US women☆

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to describe patterns of forgetting and remembering childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in a nationally representative sample of US adult women. METHOD The respondents were a national probability sample of 711 women, aged 26 years to 54 years, residing in noninstitutional settings in the contiguous 48 states. In a 1996 face-to-face interview survey, trained female interviewers asked each respondent whether she had experienced any sexual coercion by family members or nonfamily members while growing up; whether she believed that she had been sexually abused (by family members or others); and whether she had ever forgotten the CSA experiences and, if so, how she had subsequently remembered them. RESULTS Twenty-one and six-tenths percent of respondents reported having sexually coercive experiences while growing up; of these, 69.0% indicated that they felt they had been sexually abused. More than one-fourth of respondents who felt sexually abused reported that they had forgotten the abuse for some period of time but later remembered it on their own. Only 1.8% of women self-described as sexually abused reported remembering the abuse with the help of a therapist or other professional person. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that, among women who report CSA, forgetting and subsequently remembering abuse experiences is not uncommon. According to the women surveyed, however, very few (1.8%) of those who felt abused recovered memories of CSA with help from therapists or other professionals. As one of the few studies of CSA memories in a nationally representative sample, this study suggests that therapist-assisted recall is not a major source of CSA memories among women in the US general population.

Sexual Identity Group Differences in Child Abuse and Neglect

Childhood abuse and neglect are pervasive problems among girls and young women that have numerous health consequences. Research suggests that sexual minority women are more likely than heterosexual women to report childhood abuse and neglect, but little is known about which sexual minority women are at greatest risk for these early adverse experiences. Using data from a pooled sample of women in a national probability study and in a large community-based study of sexual minority women designed to replicate the national study’s methodology (pooled n = 953), we investigated rates and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect among women from five sexual identity groups. As predicted, heterosexual women reported significantly less childhood abuse and neglect than did women who identified as mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian, or lesbian. We found considerable variability across the sexual minority subgroups, including severity of abuse, highlighting the need for research that distinguishes among these groups. To the extent that differences reported by women in the sample reflect the actual prevalence and severity of abuse experiences, sexual identity group differences in childhood abuse have important clinical and public health implications.

Characteristics of childhood sexual abuse in lesbians and heterosexual women

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a strong predictor of adverse physical and mental health outcomes (Koenig, Doll, O’Leary, & Pequegnat, 2004; Lalor & McElvaney, 2010). Recent research has found that CSA is reported more frequently by lesbians than by heterosexual women (Austin et al., 2008; Balsam, Rothblum, & Beauchaine, 2005; Stoddard, Dibble, & Fineman, 2009). Possible reasons for lesbians’ higher CSA rates include childhood maltreatment (e.g., physical and sexual abuse) because of gender atypical behavior (Tjaden, Thoennes, & Allison, 1999), and involvement in behaviors (e.g., substance abuse, running away from home) that increase risks of sexual victimization, following family and peer rejection due to same-gender orientation (Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009). More limited research suggests that lesbians may also experience more severe CSA than heterosexual women. Austin and colleagues (2008) and Balsam and colleagues (2005) found that lesbians exceeded heterosexuals to a greater extent in reports of more severe forms of CSA (e.g., forced sexual activity) than in reports of less severe forms (e.g., sexual touching). Hughes, Johnson, and Wilsnack (2001) found that lesbians reported more different types of CSA experiences than heterosexual women. Understanding CSA severity is important because the few studies that assessed CSA severity found a “dose-response” relationship between severity (e.g., genital CSA, physical coercion) and adverse outcomes (Bulik, Prescott, & Kendler, 2001; Zink, Klesges, Stevens, & Decker, 2009). Previous research is inconclusive about perpetrator characteristics that might be severity indicators. Some studies have found more negative long-term outcomes following abuse by a father figure (Casey & Nurius, 2005; Ketring & Feinauer, 1999) or by perpetrators who are strangers or authority figures, caretakers, or parents’ friends (Zink et al., 2009). Tomeo and colleagues (2001) found that lesbians were more likely than heterosexual women to be abused by a female perpetrator (cf. Stoddard et al., 2009). Although this research is neither extensive nor consistent enough to suggest specific hypotheses, we present descriptive information about CSA perpetrators for comparison with previous findings. Higher rates of CSA among lesbians may be at least partly related to their greater willingness to acknowledge this experience. In coming to terms with their sexual orientation, sexual minority women often spend considerable time reflecting about identity and authenticity. Research suggests that the majority of lesbians have been in therapy or counseling (Cochran, Sullivan, & Mays, 2003), which may increase their awareness of and comfort about disclosing painful and stigmatized experiences, including CSA. The present study tests the hypothesis that, among women reporting CSA, lesbians will report more severe CSA than heterosexual women. Because information is limited about CSA perpetrators among sexual minority women, we also present descriptive information about perpetrators reported by samples of lesbians and heterosexual women. Finally, we present exploratory analyses of associations between psychotherapy experience and self-perception of CSA among women who meet researcher-defined criteria for CSA.

Discriminating artists from nonartists by their eye-fixation patterns

Discriminant analysis was used to differentiate 15 artists from 15 nonartists on the basis of their eye-fixation patterns. Contributing significantly to the discriminant function were fixation densities on the less important aspects of familiar and unfamiliar paintings.

Cohabitation, gender, and alcohol consumption in 19 countries: a multilevel analysis.

We used an ecological paradigm and multilevel analytic techniques to analyze gender-specific relationships of cohabitation (versus marriage) to drinking in 19 countries (n = 32,922) and to “heavy episodic drinking” (HED) in 17 countries (n = 24,525) in surveys (1996–2004) from Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: An International Study. Cohabitation was associated with elevated risk of HED among drinkers of both genders, controlling for age, education, and societal characteristics. The association between cohabitation and HED tended to be stronger for female drinkers than for male drinkers. HED was more prevalent among younger drinkers, especially among younger women in countries with higher per capita gross domestic product. Cross-culturally, cohabiters deserve special attention in prevention efforts for hazardous drinking, considering both individual-level and societal factors.

Substance use and related problems among U.S. women who identify as mostly heterosexual

BackgroundWe used data from a nationally representative sample to compare substance use outcomes among adult women who identified as mostly heterosexual with those who identified as exclusively (only) heterosexual.MethodWe analyzed data from mostly heterosexual women and only heterosexual women in Wave 5 (2001) of the National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women (weighted n = 1085).ResultsMostly heterosexual women were significantly more likely than only heterosexual women to report every alcohol-related outcome included in our analyses except lifetime treatment. Odds of lifetime and past-year marijuana and cocaine use showed larger differences, with mostly heterosexual women nearly four times as likely as only heterosexual women to report lifetime cocaine use and five times as likely to report past-year use.ConclusionsWe recommend that researchers use measures of sexual identity that include more nuanced response options, and that health care providers learn about the existence, large numbers, and risk/protective factors associated with substance use patterns of mostly heterosexual women.

Sociodemographic Characteristics and Drinking Status as Predictors of Older Women's Health

As part of a U.S. national survey of womens drinking and life experiences, the authors used responses from a subsample (n = 245) of women aged 55-90 years (M = 65.8 years) to examine the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics (income, marital status, and occupational status) and drinking status to several health outcomes (self-perceived general health, depression, sexual satisfaction, and sexual dysfunction). In all analyses, the authors controlled for respondent age. Results indicated that higher household income predicted greater lifetime and current sexual satisfaction with a partner as well as higher general health ratings. Women drinkers also reported better general health than did abstainers. An interaction between marital status (married or cohabitating vs. nonmarried) and employment status (employed vs. nonemployed) was a predictor of general health ratings. The authors found significant contrasts among the 4 groups when they controlled for age, income, and drinking status: (a) Among the employed respondents, the nonmarried women reported better general health than did the married women; and (b) among nonmarried respondents, the employed women reported better general health than did the nonemployed women.