Women and men tend to have different types of stress-related psychological disorders. Women have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men, while men have greater rates of alcohol-use disorders than women. A new study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress has found that when men become upset, they are more likely than women to want alcohol.

* A new Australian study examines the relationship between alcohol-outlet density and violence over time.
* All three types of outlets examined – hotel pubs, bars and packaged-liquor outlets –had positive relationships with assault rates.
* Hotel pubs and bars were the biggest drivers of violence in inner-city areas, while packaged-liquor outlets were more important in suburban areas.

How much and how often people drink – not just the average amount of alcohol they consume over time – independently influence the risk of death from several causes, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A significant proportion of university students experience violence, under circumstances that often involve alcohol. A new study has found that drinking at a fraternity, sorority or campus residence increases the likelihood of aggression, and that attending parties can especially increase aggression for women.

Although children of alcoholics (COAs) have a greater risk of developing alcohol-use disorders (AUDs), not all COAs will develop AUDs. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses to emotional stimuli in adolescent COAs considered “vulnerable” or “resilient” to AUDs.

A study by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the University of Florida suggests that ‘tweens’ should receive alcohol prevention programs prior to sixth grade, when nearly one in six children are already alcohol users.

A major initiative to promote a sensible attitude towards alcohol among students has been launched by Queen’s Students’ Union.

A new study on monkeys has found that moderate exposure to alcohol and stress during pregnancy can lead to sensitivity to touch in the monkeys’ babies. In human children, sensitivity to touch is one of a number of characteristics of the approximately 5 percent of children who over-respond to sensory information.

Adolescence is a critical time of development on many different levels, but especially concerning the initiation and escalation of alcohol use. For example, the proportion of American adolescents who regularly drink alcohol roughly doubles during secondary-school years.

A team of researchers at Penn Sate has used an animal model to reveal, for the first time, a physiological basis for the effect of alcohol on male sexual behavior, including increased sexual arousal and decreased sexual inhibition. The research, which will be published on 2 January 2008 in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, resulted in four novel findings with broad importance for further addiction research.

Asking emergency department patients about their alcohol use and talking with them about how to reduce harmful drinking patterns is an effective way to lower rates of risky drinking in these patients, according to a nationwide collaborative study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Doctors writing in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ call on the government to introduce tougher measures to reduce alcohol related harm.