Difference of sex in alcohol limits

A study was conducted in order to identify the differences between how many first year college students surpassed the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) limits on drinking based on sex. These limits are placed to limit the effects of toxicity and intoxication. This was further broken down into the difference between surpassing a daily limit (4 for men, 3 drinks women) and weekly limits (14 for men, 7 for women).  This is a significant difference because women have ¾ the allowance of men daily, but 50% of the allowance weekly.

The research was held on three different campuses and used the aforementioned first year students. The students were required to update progress through the semester. The drinking was placed in different categories for assessment: Whether they had exceeded a limit at all, exceeded a daily limit or a weekly limit or both. It was found that over 60% of the students exceeded the daily limits and if you take out the students that abstained from alcohol the percentage climbed to over 80%. A larger percentage was found in male drinkers to female drinkers.  This however, did not account for the exceeding of weekly limits, where it was found that women had been surpassing weekly limits on average. It was also found that drinkers that exceeded daily limits were also likely to exceed weekly limits.

The report also showed that over the course of the study men and women exceeded their daily limits fewer times as the semester wore on. It was found that only men showed a decrease in exceeding their weekly limits over time.