Av.

   

18 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — MARCH 1999

National Institutes of Health
Funds First Major Study On
Lesbians And Alcohol

CHICAGO, IL, February 22,
I999. Dr. Tonda Hughes, a
nurse researcher at the
University of Illinois at
Chicago has received a four-
year grant from the National
Institute of Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, National Institutes

I of Health (NIH), to conduct the

first federally funded study on
lesbians’ use of alcohol. This
award coincides with the
release of a major report on les-
bian health by the Institute of
Medicine which concludes that
additional research is needed to
determine if lesbians may be at
higher risk for specific health
concerns. ~

Little information currently
exists on lesbians’ alcohol use.
However, some studies have
suggested that, unlike hetero-
sexual. women ..whose use of
alcohol declines with age,
drinkingamong lesbians may
actually increase with age.
Other comparison studies of
lesbians and hetero- I
sexual women show
more alcohol-related
problems among les-

4
tax

   
   

bians, ‘such as difficulty cutting
back on drinking or concerns
about the amount they drink.
These findings, if supported,
have important implications for
lesbians’ health including
increased risk ofliver and heart
disease, accidents and injury,
and potential greater risk of
breast cancer.

Dr. Hughes, an expert on les-
bians and addictions who has
studied women’s drinking
behavior for more than a

decade, will explore patterns of"

drinking and risk factors for
heavy drinking among 400 les-

'bians in the Chicago area, who

will be recruited through com-
munity groups. Her study is
also expected to provide impor-
tant information on other risk
factors including lesbians’ non-
traditional ’,-roles,— the impact of

. discrimination and ‘stigma, and

social’: networking‘ behaviors
that often encourage socializing
in bars_. —

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“This study represents an

‘important breakthrough in les-

bian health research, and will
provide urgently needed infor-
mation on a major health con-
cern for lesbians, “ said Caitlin
Ryan, a lesbian health
researcher who initiated the
National Lesbian Health Care
Survey in the early 1980s.
“Funding by the NIH will help
put lesbians and addictions on
the federal research agenda.”
“Myths and stereotypes of
lesbians as alcoholics and
heavy drinkers are largely
based on studies conducted in
the 19705 that recruited most of
their samples from gay bars,”
noted Dr. Hughes. “This study
is designed to provide a much
more realistic picture ofthue pat-
terns and variability of les-
bians’ drinking, and to provide
information for developing
alcohol abuse prevention and
early intervention strategies.”

 

   

LANGROCK SPERRY & WOOL

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

 

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growing up lesbian 
growing up bisexual  g
growing up transgender  together!

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