Drinking alcohol has increased over a generation in a study of mothers and daughters in Australia: increases in alcohol use in young women over recent decades are shown by national survey data but have yet to be replicated using prospective data. Previous research suggests drinking patterns have changed with more heavy drinking at younger ages.

The authors compared change in alcohol use over a generation of young women born in Australia born from 1981 to 1983 with that of their mothers at the same age. Data from an Australian birth cohort study were used for the two generations of women. The study included 1,053 mothers and daughters with complete data after 21 years of follow-up.

The daughters had greater odds of consuming high and moderate levels of alcohol than their mothers. Daughters between the ages of 18 and 25 had more than five times the odds of consuming the highest level of alcohol (more than 30 glasses of alcohol per month) and nearly three times the odds of consuming between seven and 30 glasses per month.
Not having a dependent child roughly doubled the odds of all levels of drinking in both mothers and daughters.
Having a partner doubled the odds of daughters consuming high levels of alcohol while the odds of drinking at the highest levels were more than five times for mothers who were single.
Higher education had no effect on consumption.

This study shows the first longitudinal evidence confirming that female alcohol use has dramatically increased over a generation, especially at higher levels of drinking.
Later age at child bearing contributed to this increase and the relationship between alcohol use and having a partner was found to reverse alcohol consumption across the 2 generations.
International research is urgently needed to confirm what we suspect is a trend, which may have been underestimated in many Western countries. It may be time for more aggressive antialcohol programs aimed at young women.

For more information
Jama Psychiatry
Generational Increase in Young Women’s Drinking - A Prospective Analysis of Mother-Daughter Dyads
Rosa Alati, PhD, MApplSc; Kim S. Betts, MPH; Gail M. Williams, PhD, MSc; Jacob M. Najman, PhD; Wayne D. Hall, PhD.

MDN