Through the wine glass: How biographical midlife transitions and women's affective interpretations interact with alcohol consumption

Strategies to support midlife women to reduce their alcohol consumption: an Australian study using human-centred design

“…Finally, the social determinants of health must be addressed in order for women to be able to reduce their alcohol consumption. In particular, enabling women to reduce their alcohol consumption requires the consideration and implementation of policies that address gender equity, employment, education and childcare, for instance, as an acknowledgement that the pressures on midlife women to manage multiple competing priorities including work and caring roles impacts their agency over their alcohol consumption ( Lunnay et al , 2023 ). Despite the imperative to acknowledge the central role that environments and systems play in shaping alcohol consumption, approaches implemented at the individual level that are within the realm of reality, particularly for middle and upper-class women with access to resources and agency, may empower women to make change in ways that strategies only focusing on the structural determinants may not.…”

“…These studies paint a complex picture of midlife women’s alcohol consumption, demonstrating that it is shaped by the interplay of individual, social, societal and commercial factors ( Kersey et al ., 2022 ). Additionally, research suggests that the period of midlife is not homogenous, with different biographical transitions occurring for women throughout this period that differentially impact affect, stress and in turn, alcohol consumption, ( Lunnay et al , 2023 ). Additionally, midlife women are not a homogenous group, with differences in socioeconomic status and social standing impacting how women respond to changes in midlife using alcohol ( Lunnay et al , 2022a , 2022b ; Ward et al , 2022 ).…”

“The world seems a bit of a better place”: Alcohol and women at midlife

“…vi Table 1 Location, number of participants, and brief details of friendship group ............ face negative public framing of their drinking, likely arising from concerns about its impact on traditional gender roles as carers and mothers and the unwanted invasion of male drinking spaces (Allamani et al, 2000;). Women's lives also remain characterised by unequal gender relations and increasingly demanding expectations, as well as varying levels of material resources across different groups (Lunnay et al, 2023). To gain a deeper understanding of the many factors at play in women's drinking, it is necessary to explore the meanings and experiences of drinking to midlife women, and illuminate the range of factors that contribute to their understandings of current drinking behaviours.…”

“…As well, different cohorts of women do not have their drinking viewed equally and research shows that it is the behaviours of white and middle-class women that have been privileged as 'normal' and acceptable (Hutton, 2020;. In contrast, working-class women and women of colour, who face an unequal distribution of resources to enact a good feminine life, are more likely to have their drinking problematised and seen as causing harm to themselves and others (e.g., their children) (Hutton, 2020;Lunnay et al, 2023;.…”

“…We need to consider how women's lives remain embedded in gendered and classed structures and are characterised by differing levels of resources to enact their roles and responsibilities and achieve age-related gendered expectations Lunnay et al, 2023). As noted above, women link their drinking to alleviating or achieving certain emotional states in the material circumstances of their lives, particularly those related to unequal gendered responsibilities and distressing events.…”