Abstract
Aims: The study investigated gender differences in drinking patterns and the reasons behind them among men and women in the Russian city of Novosibirsk. Methods: A mixed method, combining quantitative and qualitative data, was conducted based on the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe cohort study. The quantitative study included 4268 men and 5094 women aged 45–69 years; of those, 20 men and 24 women completed an in-depth interview. Results: The quantitative data revealed a large gap in drinking patterns in general between genders. Women drank less often and much smaller quantities than that of men. For example, 19% of men, vs. 1% of women, were classified as problem drinkers (two or more positive answers on the CAGE questionnaire). These differences were not explained by socioeconomic factors. Qualitative data have shown that gender roles and a traditional culture around women's and men's drinking were the main reasons for the reported drinking behaviour, whereby women were consistently expected to drink much less than men in terms of preference for strong beverages, drinking frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed. Conclusion: The study confirmed that large differences exist between Russian men's and women's drinking; these differences may be largely explained by gender roles.
Highlights
The mortality crisis in Russia that occurred just after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s attracted the attention of many researchers and demographers (Leon et al, 1997; Notzon et al, 1998; Shkolnikov et al, 1995)
There is increasing evidence that alcohol contributed to the high mortality rates in Russia (Leon et al, 2007, 2009; Pridemore, 2002; Pridemore and Chamlin, 2006; Zaridze et al, 2009), and it is likely that alcohol contributed to the large gender gap in mortality
This hypothesis is supported by observations that the differences in alcohol consumption between genders are much greater in Russia than in other countries
Summary
The mortality crisis in Russia that occurred just after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s attracted the attention of many researchers and demographers (Leon et al, 1997; Notzon et al, 1998; Shkolnikov et al, 1995). There is increasing evidence that alcohol contributed to the high mortality rates in Russia (Leon et al, 2007, 2009; Pridemore, 2002; Pridemore and Chamlin, 2006; Zaridze et al, 2009), and it is likely that alcohol contributed to the large gender gap in mortality. Gender differences of a similar magnitude were found in problem drinking, based on the alcohol-related problems, screening instrument, CAGE and negative social consequences of drinking (Bobak et al, 2004) This pattern of differences in drinking between men and women is consistent with other studies in Russia (Bobak et al, 1999; Malyutina et al, 2001; Pomerleau et al, 2008)
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