Substance Abuse, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2001 Gender Differences in Drinking Patterns in Nine European Countries: Descriptive Findings Salme Ahlstro ¨ m, Ph.D., 1,4,5 Kim Bloomfield, Dr.P.H., 2,5 and Ronald Knibbe, Ph.D. 3,5 Gender differences in drinking patterns in nine European countries (the Czech Repub- lic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzer- land) were examined using data from surveys conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Drinking patterns were analyzed with regard to sociodemographic variables such as age, education, employment, marital status, and parenthood. Age was closely related to drinking in every society, but the patterns were different in different societies. Women with higher education tended to consume more alcohol than women with lower education in many societies, whereas a similar pattern was not found among men. Unemployment seemed to be more strongly related to women’s drinking than to that of men. Divorced men consistently consumed the most alcohol in every country. Parenthood was profoundly and consistently associated across societies with women’s monthly consumption and prevalence of heavy drinking. KEY WORDS: alcohol; gender differences; drinking patterns; European countries. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to present a systematic description of gender differences in drinking patterns in nine European countries (the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzer- land) by comparing drinking patterns within and between the countries, between 1 Alcohol and Drug Research, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, P.O. Box 220, FIN-00531 Helsinki, Finland. 2 Free University Berlin, Institute for Medical Informatics, Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Hindenburg- damm 30, D-12200 Berlin, Germany. 3 Maastricht University, Department of Medical Sociology, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Neth- erlands. 4 Correspondence should be addressed to this author at Alcohol and Drug Research, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, P.O. Box 220, FIN-00531 Helsinki, Finland; telephone + 358-9-3967 2006. 5 With the collaboration of Allaman Allamani, Marie Choquet, Francesco Cipriani, Gerhard Gmel, Be ´ atrice Janin Jacquat, Ludek Kubicka, The ´re ` se Lecomte, Leena Metso, Patrick Miller, Moira Plant, and Fredrik Spak. 69 0889-7077/01/0300-0069$19.50/1  2001 Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse