Risk factors of Alcoholism in young adult women

INTRODUCTION Alcohol use has primarily been perceived as a male problem. As a result, gender variations have been ignored in most of the researches. Historically, there has always been disapproval by the society and culture towards women alcohol use. Thus, women who consume alcohol have always been looked down upon. Women alcohol use has received the widest attention worldwide. While problems related to illicit substance use and their treatment mirror the issues related to alcohol use in many ways, important differences also do exist, which leads to the need for independent research. There is an intense stigma and taboo which is being faced by women in any country who are into alcohol use or any other kind of substance use, and this stigma becomes a significant barrier to treatment for these women, which as a result increases the chances of victimization of these women (Blume, 1991). Institutes, such as the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, made efforts to create public awareness, sensitizing gender issues and garner scientific researches for this purpose (Zilberman & Blume, 2005). In India, rules for the acceptability dates back as far as laws of Hammurabi (Marshall, 1979) in the west and the Manusmriti in India which states that, "a wife who drinks wine ... may be abandoned at any time" (Blume, 1991). In ancient times, the consumption of alcohol was permitted for religious and medical purposes, and was forbidden for those belonging to higher castes and women. During Mughal period, under Babar's reign, alcohol consumption was widely prevalent. However, Babar prohibited the use of alcohol in his army and courts. As soon as he realized that it can be a threat to the battles, he prohibited the use of alcohol in his army and court. In 1937, in order to protect the weaker sections of the society, the Indian National Congress adopted prohibition as part of its programme 2 against the deteriorating effects of alcohol. There are s,