Rich Women and Uneducated Men Seem to Drink More Alcoholic Beverages

     Well-educated, wealthy women and poor, uneducated men are more likely to engage in hazardous drinking habits according to a new report from Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development, an international firm that studies global trends, looked into the patterns and social differences of alcohol consumption.   The new study suggests that wealthy women and uneducated men are more apt to engage in unhealthy drinking habits.

     Hazardous habits such as binge drinking were found to be most common in rich women in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and the US.  The study concluded that across both men and women those who are “better educated” and of “higher socioeconomic status” drink more alcohol than anyone else.   However, the gap between men and women’s drinking behaviors appears to narrowing with both genders displaying similar drinking habits.

     “No single variable predicts the likelihood that a person will adopt a given pattern of consuming alcohol,” the study stated. “People with more education and higher socioeconomic status are more likely to drink alcohol, but social gradients differ in men and women for hazardous and heavy episodic drinking.   “Men who are less educated and have higher socioeconomic status, and women who are more educated and have higher socioeconomic status, are more likely to drink at risk in many countries.”

     I find this study to be an interesting one, especially from the view I have from behind the bar here in Key West.  My view is one of a pretty fair cross section of international, American, and locals.   I fee that the study has a lot of merit , but like all other studies it is a cross section of the people that actually are doing the drinking.   As for me I put myself into the educated male group of moderate drinkers, except when at a rum festival judging rums where I would have to classify myself as a short term binge drinker.   I'll just stick with my moderate status and go on living in my own happy little world down here in the Keys.