ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2015
Transformation and time-out: the role of alcohol in identity construction among Scottish women in early midlife.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Constructions of alcohol consumption by non-problematised middle-aged drinkers: a qualitative systematic review.BMC public health · 2018Pooled it
- Background for High Risk Drinking Habits Among Adult Women: A Qualitative Study of Trigger, Maintenance, and Promotion Factors.Yonago acta medica · 2026Article
- 'I don't consider cancer when I'm grabbing the beer': Discursive strategies used by midlife New Zealanders to undermine alcohol-cancer risks.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Impact of Lifestyle Changes on Body Weight Gain During Nationwide Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The symbolic consumption processes associated with 'low-calorie' and 'low-sugar' alcohol products and Australian women.Health promotion international · 2023Article
- Strategies to support midlife women to reduce their alcohol consumption: an Australian study using human-centred design.Health promotion international · 2023Article
- Exploring the significance of relationality, care and governmentality in families, for understanding women's classed alcohol drinking practices.Social theory & health : STH · 2022Article
- Parents' management of alcohol in the context of discourses of 'competent' parenting: A qualitative analysis.Sociology of health & illness · 2022Article
- Youth drinking in decline: What are the implications for public health, public policy and public debate?The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- COVID-19 makes a stronger research focus on home drinking more important than ever.Drug and alcohol review · 2020Article
- Gender Equality, Drinking Cultures and Second-Hand Harms from Alcohol in the 50 US States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Article
- Understanding alcohol as an element of 'care practices' in adult White British women's everyday personal relationships: a qualitative study.BMC women's health · 2018Article
- The role of alcohol in constructing gender & class identities among young women in the age of social media.The International journal on drug policy · 2018Article
- Digital phenotyping and sociological perspectives in a Brave New World.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2017Article
- Effect of Prepregnancy Alcohol Consumption on Postpartum Relationship Satisfaction and Divorce among Norwegian Mothers.Substance abuse : research and treatment · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Despite the increase in drinking by women in early midlife, little alcohol research has focused on this group. We explore how alcohol is associated with the construction of gender identities among women aged 30-50 years in the west of Scotland, United Kingdom. We draw on qualitative data from 11 focus groups (five all-female, six mixed-sex) with pre-existing groups of friends and work colleagues in which women and men discuss their drinking behaviours. Analysis demonstrated how alcohol represented a time and space away from paid and unpaid work for women in a range of domestic circumstances, allowing them to relax and unwind. While women used alcohol to construct a range of identities, traditional notions of femininity remained salient (e.g. attention to appearance, drinking 'girly' drinks). Drinking enabled women to assert their identity beyond the roles and responsibilities often associated with being a woman in early midlife. For example, some respondents with young children described the transformative effects of excessive drinking which allowed them to return temporarily to a younger, carefree version of themselves. Thus, our data suggest that women's drinking in early midlife revolves around notions of 'idealised' femininity but simultaneously represents a way of achieving 'time out' from traditional female responsibilities such as caring for others. We consider these findings within a broader social and cultural context including alcohol marketing, domestic roles and motherhood and their implications for health promotion.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.