Men Are More Likely To Crave Alcohol When They Feel Negative Emotions

This blog about the difference between men and women craving alcohol is brought to you by the Alumni Outreach Department of Sober Living by the Sea. To learn more about Sober Living by the Sea visit the Sober Living by the Sea website, to learn more about our addiction treatment programs for men, visit the Landing Chemical Dependency Treatment for Men and Sunrise Recovery Ranch websites. To learn more about our addiction treatment programs for women, visit The Rose of Newport Beach website, and to learn about our treatment program for eating disorders and addiction visit The Victorian of Newport Beach.


This probably comes as no surprise, but men and women tend to react to stress differently. A study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress has found that when men become upset, they are more likely to want alcohol than women. Women on the other hand, have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men.

This is the type of pattern that we have addressed at Sober Living by the sea by creating separate programs for men and women, and particularly find it helpful to create a gender specific environment during the first 30 or 60 days of primary treatment. Our Landing and Sunrise Ranch facilities for men provide structured, highly supervised support for males who are chemically dependent. Our Rose and Victorian House for the treatment of Eating Disorders able to create nurturing and supportive environments for females, allowing them to work on their women's issues with other women in recovery in a safe and intimate environment.

The recent study was authored by the Yale University School of Medicine and was conducted by exposing over 50 adults to role playing activities and closely monitoring their response. The role playing was conducted as "imagery scripts" which were divided into these categories: stressful, alcohol-related, and neutral/relaxing. All role playing was conducted in separate sessions, on separate days, and in random order. The results of the research concluded that women are more likely to feel sad or anxious after a stressful experience and men are more likely to drink alcohol as a result of a stressful experience.