Female lawyers are more likely to suffer from work-related stress and more likely to reach for the bottle than their male colleagues. More than half of them have risky drinking habits, compared with 46 percent of their male colleagues, a U.S. study found.
In addition, 34 percent of female attorneys report risky or hazardous alcohol use, compared to one-quarter of men. Researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School surveyed a total of 2,863 men and women currently practicing law; women made up slightly more than half of the final sample. Men and women differed significantly in terms of stress and substance abuse.
“High work overload was associated with stress in both men and women, although this was more pronounced in women. Thirty percent of respondents exhibited clearly hazardous alcohol use – although only two percent reported that they had once been diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder. Significantly more female attorneys had risky or hazardous alcohol use,” says study co-author Dr. Justin Anker of the University of Minnesota.
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