Gender Differences
Women and men differ in various ways when it comes to addictions. Research has shown that women are more likely to be polysubstant dependent. It has been noted that a larger percentage of women abuse licit (legal) drugs such as tranquilizers, sedatives, and stimulants. On the other hand, men are more likely to abuse illicit (illegal) drugs such as cocaine, meth, and other street drugs. It is also interesting to note, as research suggests, that women addicts more frequently have a family history of drug abuse. When asked to describe their onset of addictions, women more frequently describe their addiction as sudden where as men describe them as gradual. Females have a higher percentage of fatty tissues and a lower percentage of body water than men. Therefore, women have slower absorption rates of drug substances. This means these substances are at a higher concentration in a women’s bloodstream. Women addicts are known to be at greater risk for fatty liver disease, hypertension, anemia, and other disorders.
Read more about this topic: Polysubstance Dependence
Famous quotes containing the words gender and/or differences:
“Most women of [the WW II] generation have but one image of good motherhood—the one their mothers embodied. . . . Anything done “for the sake of the children” justified, even ennobled the mother’s role. Motherhood was tantamount to martyrdom during that unique era when children were gods. Those who appeared to put their own needs first were castigated and shunned—the ultimate damnation for a gender trained to be wholly dependent on the acceptance and praise of others.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Quintilian [educational writer in Rome about A.D. 100] hoped that teachers would be sensitive to individual differences of temperament and ability. . . . Beating, he thought, was usually unnecessary. A teacher who had made the effort to understand his pupil’s individual needs and character could probably dispense with it: “I will content myself with saying that children are helpless and easily victimized, and that therefore no one should be given unlimited power over them.””
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)