Survey exposes dark side of women’s drinking

ALMOST 50% of young women have found that their drink or a friend’s drink has been spiked on a night out, a shocking new study reveals.

Nearly half again (45%) admitted having had a sexual encounter while drunk that they later regretted, and seven out of 10 women aged between 24 and 30 said they ended up in that situation because they were intoxicated.

The survey, published in the latest edition of Hospitality Ireland, a magazine for the food and drinks trade, also found almost a third of women aged between 18 and 29 consumed seven or more drinks in a night.

Over a third admitted that alcohol had affected their relationship with their family or partner and seven out of ten of the 300 women surveyed admitted that they made a call or sent a text while under the influence that they later regretted.

Only half could remember their last big night out and 10% had hardly any recollection of the event. More than half said they had been absent from work or study due to a hangover.

Hospitality Ireland editor Emily Hourican said the results showed a “darker side” to women’s drinking culture.

“It’s not news that young women are drinking too much but the sometimes negative way in which their approach to alcohol is impacting on their lives is made all too clear by this survey,” she said.

While almost a half admitted they would find it difficult to socialise without having an alcoholic drink, 85% did not know the recommended weekly alcohol allowance for women.

Over 60% agreed that binge drinking was a problem and the same number of women said they had friends who binge drink.

The survey found that a quarter of the women surveyed drank four nights a week and just over 40% spent up to €75 a week on alcohol.

Almost 30% said wine was their preferred drink while 25% drank spirits or cocktails and 21% drank beer. Just under 20% preferred alcopops while 8% favoured ‘shots’.

Over 40% said ‘atmosphere’ influenced their choice destination for a night out while just 9% said ‘meeting a partner’ impacted on their choice of venue.

The Irish College of General Practitioners’ alcohol project director Rolande Anderson said, while the figures were unsurprising, it was interesting that the food and drinks industry wanted to examine how alcohol abuse was impacting on women’s lives

“We are hearing dreadful stuff all the time about the situations both men and women find themselves in as a result of consuming too much alcohol. Men also end up in sexual encounters that they regret afterwards,” he said. “While there is some effort being made to tackle alcohol abuse it needs to be Government led. “There is still some ambivalence at Cabinet level about dealing with this,” he said. “We’ve a long way to go.”