Women aged 18 to 50 are being sought to take part in a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) study into their drinking habits.
PhD researcher Helen Haydon, from QUT's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), said over the past 20 years women's alcohol consumption had changed substantially with women drinking more today than any previous generation.
"What we want to find out is why women do and don't drink and how their drinking habits have or haven't changed," Ms Haydon, who is also a member of QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said.
The study is also seeking to look at the cultural influences on women's drinking throughout their life.
"Research reveals rising trends in risky drinking practices by women across a range of ages. Further research suggests that women and men drink in very different ways for very different reasons and hence drinking can be viewed as having gender specific behaviours," she said.
"As such, cultural influences may be important in understanding this behaviour, yet, there is little research on the social aspects which influence women's drinking."
Ms Haydon said it was important to understand women's drinking from a health perspective as the impact of regularly drinking more than two standard drinks in one sitting resulted in a significantly greater degree of harm for women than for men.
"It is important to look at this because women drink in a different way and face different risks compared to men, so we need to understand more about what is influencing their drinking even when it may not be perceived as overly excessive," she said.
"When people regularly drink more than two standard drinks per day, the risk of alcohol-related disease increases more sharply for women compared with men.
"So it is important to understand when, how, where and why women drink.
"We need to know more about women's attitudes and behaviours around alcohol consumption and what is influencing these attitudes from a social and cultural perspective.
"We also need to look at any changes in drinking that may occur across the lifespan and why that may be."
Ms Haydon said the study was targeting women with a range of drinking habits from those who don't drink at all to those who drink on a regular basis.
"We are interested in all women between 18 and 50 years of age," she said.
To register your interest in being part of the study, phone 07 3138 4926 or email hm.haydon@qut.edu.au.
Participation will involve a telephone interview which will take about an hour to complete.
Media contact: Sharon Thompson, QUT media officer (Mon/Thur), 07 3138 2999 or sharon.thompson@qut.edu.au
or Sandra Hutchinson, QUT media officer (Tue/Wed), 07 3138 2999 or s3.hutchinson@qut.edu.au
