Men may use alcohol as stress distraction

NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress found that when men become upset, they are more likely than women to want alcohol.

First author Tara M. Chaplin of Yale University School of Medicine and colleagues exposed 27 women and 27 men -- healthy adult social drinkers -- to three types of imagery scripts described as stressful, alcohol-related and neutral/relaxing -- in separate sessions, on separate days and in random order. The researcher then assessed participants' subjective emotions, behavioral/bodily responses, cardiovascular arousal as indicated by heart rate and blood pressure and self-reported alcohol craving.

"After listening to the stressful story, women reported more sadness and anxiety than men, as well as greater behavioral arousal," Chaplin said in a statement. "But for the men … emotional arousal was linked to increases in alcohol craving. In other words, when men are upset, they are more likely to want alcohol."

The findings, scheduled to be published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research but available online, said men had greater blood pressure response to stress, but did not report greater sadness and anxiety, may reflect that they are more likely to try to distract themselves from their physiological arousal, possibly through the use of alcohol.