Male and female differences in severity of problems with alcohol at the workplace.

A study was undertaken in order to estimate the frequency of occurrence of alcohol problems among female and male employees in selected large work settings with ongoing occupational alcoholism/employee assistance programs. Randomly selected employees provided information through a survey about their alcohol related behavior as well as demographic and occupational characteristics. Results indicated a range of alcohol problems from 9.2% to 17.5% for females and 20.0% to 29.9% for males. These figures, combined with client monitoring data, indicated that none of the programs was having a significant impact on either males or females. The most striking correlate of problem drinking for both sexes was family drinking problems.