Women Under the Influence

Alcohol, drugs, and tobacco are a very real part of life for Americans and all nationalities world wide. Substance use and abuse affects men, women, and children of all ages. The book Women under the Influence from The National center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shines a very realistic and bright light on how substance use and abuse play a role in women's lives in particularly. The purpose of this essay will be to briefly analyze and explain the first chapter of the book, Pathways to Substance Abuse among Girls and Women. First we will review the day to day challenges women face that drive them to use, then the role that depression and abuse play, and finally how a women's surroundings, community, and socioeconomic status effect her likelihood of substance abuse.

Sometimes life throws curve balls at women, whether she is 13 or 63 day to day life can be a challenge. When a girl is in adolescence this can be a particularly difficult time, this is when a girl is trying to find herself and define her identity while experiencing puberty and hormonal changes as well. This is also the time a girl transitions into high school, which in undeniably difficult. When you add up all the challenges, and then throw the pressure of alcohol and drugs in the mix, a young girl can become very conflicted. Many young girls turn to substance abuse to cope and because peer pressure can be very influential. Young girls are not the only ones at risk for turning to substance abuse, adult women face challenges too. When a woman is a grown adult becoming dependant on alcohol is even easier because for one, it is legal, and very attainable. The challenges an adult woman can face may include divorce, juggling a career and a family, even weight gain and wrinkles can trigger a woman to seek comfort in substance abuse. Unfortunately young and adult women are not the only women at risk, older women face challenges too. An older woman can face the pain of illness, the empty nest syndrome, the death of a spouse, family members, and friends. Additionally, they simply have more time to drink; they also have access to prescription drugs with an extra amount of ease due to their age. Essentially, a woman of any age can face serious life troubles that can drive them to abuse alcohol and drugs.

In addition to the daily triggers a woman faces that may lead her to abuse substances, some women endure much more painful experiences that drive her to drug and alcohol abuse; such as physical or sexual abuse. It was reported that women who were abused at any age in her their life were twice as likely to engage in substance abuse. According to the text, young girls that were sexually abused were more likely to start drinking alcohol under the age of eleven. This is such a young age to start drinking and makes for a very dangerous journey into young adulthood and beyond. Women of all ages often suffer from depression as well, sometimes the depression is caused by repressed sadness from past cases of abuse and sometimes it is not, but depression often leads women down a path of substance abuse. Most commonly women are looking