Stressful life events and alcohol problems among women seen at a detoxication center.

Abstract
A structured interview was used to gather data about the effect of stressful life events on the onset of alcohol-related problems of 293 women admitted to a county alcohol detoxication facility. The majority of the women (77%) were from the lower social classes; 73% were diagnosed as primary alcoholics and 27% demonstrated alcoholism secondary to preexisting antisocial personalities or affective disorders. The women reported experiencing a total of 1225 stressful life events (e.g., deaths of family members, attempted suicide, separation-divorce, drug problems and gynecological events), an average of 4.2 events/woman. No strong association was found between the stressful events and the onset of alcoholism. Only 22% of the women reported the occurrence of such events in the same year as the onset of alcohol problems and an additional 27% reported their occurrence in the 3 subsequent yr. A close temporal relationship between a potential stressor and an alcohol-related problem was apparent in only 63 women.

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