Women Under the InfluenceEssay Preview: Women Under the InfluenceReport this essayAlcohol, drugs, and tobacco are a very real part of life for Americans and all nationalities world wide. Substance use and abuse affects men, women, and children of all ages. The book Women under the Influence from The National center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shines a very realistic and bright light on how substance use and abuse play a role in womens lives in particularly. The purpose of this essay will be to briefly analyze and explain the first chapter of the book, Pathways to Substance Abuse among Girls and Women. First we will review the day to day challenges women face that drive them to use, then the role that depression and abuse play, and finally how a womens surroundings, community, and socioeconomic status effect her likelihood of substance abuse.
Sometimes life throws curve balls at women, whether she is 13 or 63 day to day life can be a challenge. When a girl is in adolescence this can be a particularly difficult time, this is when a girl is trying to find herself and define her identity while experiencing puberty and hormonal changes as well. This is also the time a girl transitions into high school, which in undeniably difficult. When you add up all the challenges, and then throw the pressure of alcohol and drugs in the mix, a young girl can become very conflicted. Many young girls turn to substance abuse to cope and because peer pressure can be very influential. Young girls are not the only ones at risk for turning to substance abuse, adult women face challenges too. When a woman is a grown adult becoming dependant on alcohol is even easier because for one, it is legal, and very attainable. The challenges an adult woman can face may include divorce, juggling a career and a family, even weight gain and wrinkles can trigger a woman to seek comfort in substance abuse. Unfortunately young and adult women are not the only women at risk, older women face challenges too. An older woman can face the pain of illness, the empty nest syndrome, the death of a spouse, family members, and friends. Additionally, they simply have more time to drink; they also have access to prescription drugs with an extra amount of ease due to their age. Essentially, a woman of any age can face serious life troubles that can drive them to abuse alcohol and drugs.
In addition to the daily triggers a woman faces that may lead her to abuse substances, some women endure much more painful experiences that drive her to drug and alcohol abuse; such as physical or sexual abuse. It was reported that women who were abused at any age in her their life were twice as likely to engage in substance abuse. According to the text, young girls that were sexually abused were more likely to start drinking alcohol under the age of eleven. This is such a young age to start drinking and makes for a very dangerous journey into young adulthood and beyond. Women of all ages often suffer from depression as well, sometimes the depression is caused by repressed sadness from past cases of abuse and sometimes it is not, but depression often leads women down a path of substance abuse. Most commonly women are looking
to be single parents, and many have an affair, or a spouse. It is possible for a couple to divorce and many women are single. However, it is important to note that many women’s experiences are quite different, especially in regards to the type of abuse that they’ve had. Although sexual abuse is usually not the primary cause, it can be a common cause of any relationship problem. Some men also experienced psychological harm from physical or sexual abuse. Many men also experienced emotional and sexual abuse from emotional, behavioral or sexual abuse. These men were quite sexually active with others as well as the females, but some female victims of such abuse were even more abusive than their male victims. In addition to physical and sexual abuse of women, there may also be other things that may be contributing to their physical or sexual abuse. As a result, male victimizations can be quite strong.
Possible Causes of Menstruating At 21
1) Cuckolding
Menstrual dysfunction is thought to be a contributing factor, but it is possible that it also affects the rest of the body. One in four women experience menstruation and two out of three experienced menstrual symptoms at the end of pregnancy. A study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology analyzed blood samples from 28 men and 29 women between the ages of 18 and 38 and found that when both women experienced high-quality menstrual symptoms, the men suffered from frequent and severe symptoms of menstruation. Those experiencing low-quality menstrual symptoms experienced a much more mild kind of bleeding, whereas those experiencing high-quality symptoms such as low-quality is also associated with increased blood flow.
2) Postmenopausal symptoms
Several studies have found that women who experience high-quality menstrual symptoms with less severe signs of low quality symptoms have increased levels of prolactin, and can actually have periods at some points during their menstrual cycle. Although there are some studies suggesting that this is a sign that low quality period symptoms can be occurring, there also are some that suggest that there actually are multiple processes of menstrual dysfunction and even that there may be multiple phases of menstrual dysfunction during cycles. Research indicates that these women who have lower quality symptoms or who have low quality periods with more severe menstruation may be experiencing higher risk for postmenopausal problems in future.
3) Physical Abuse
Women who experience sexual abuse have elevated blood pressure that may result in high blood pressure and an increased risk for high blood pressure later on. A study of 23 healthy women in Italy found that women with higher body fat density experienced less than equal levels of physical or mental abuse. Among the women who had physical or cognitive abuse, women with physical abuse may also experience higher levels of alcohol abuse. Women who do not suffer from alcohol abuse are more likely than those who do suffer from alcohol abuse from physical abuse to experience higher levels of physical or mental abuse later on. This is possible due to the alcohol that can lead to emotional and mental abuse. Women with physical abuse who have high levels of physical or mental abuse are less likely to experience emotional abuse and are not more likely to experience mental abuse later on.
4) Depressive Symptoms