So Child free equals alcohol?

I’m 30, CF, and don’t drink lol but ok

I’m turn, the women I’ve seen down the most alcohol are the wine mommies

Extra funny when we often see mothers post pictures of their wine with the title: "Mommy juice".

Im 35, childfree, and sober for 11 weeks today. ☺️ What about Mommy wine culture? Hmm

And how many wine drunk moms and beer guzzling dads do we see?

I’m CF and don’t drink 💁🏻‍♀️

I dont even drink and never will.

The most alcoholic people I see (many in my family) are parents.

This seems to assume that we are mourning not being parents and coping with alcohol.

In reality parents are mourning being parents and coping with alcohol.

If I had kids I'd be drunk all the time.

Hahahahah! I am 26 years old and never drink alchol. I am no where near being an alcholic. They badly want CF people to become moms/dads by giving horror stories, huh?

I'm 33 and have been working on the same bottle of scotch for the last 18 months or more.

That article doesn't even link the study itself, do I'm inclined to say the article is cherry picking

I don't drink. I'm 45. I piss my money away on concert tickets and tattoos.

here is the study they are citing in case anyone is interested. The study doesn’t say “chances are you’re on the way to alcoholism,” they’re saying they found a correlation in a self reported, long term study. That’s it.

It’s easy just to reject claims like this because it goes against our assumptions or what we want it to be, but this isn’t just an opinion piece, they’re talking about a real study. It’s worth noting that correlation does not equal causation, and this is just one study so it would be interesting to see further studies that dig into this more to figure out why that correlation was found. Maybe more people who are prone to alcoholism are choosing not to have kids because they know they are prone to alcoholism, maybe how we socially define alcoholism has changed over time, maybe parents are less likely to admit to having a problem or to overlook certain incidents. We don’t know the “why” because this study doesn’t go into that. No one is making the claim that not having kids makes you an alcoholic. They’re making the claim that they found a correlation.

I would drink even more if I had kids.

Wine moms are a thing fellas

Childfree straight-edge teetotaler here, but hey, whatever you gotta tell yourselves, Knowridge.

This sounds like a bad DARE campaign.

Well that article was all over the place.

Funny how they blamed "wine-mom culture" for making childless women drink. Bitch, that culture isn't ours, we're not mommies! :D

But this text is just so shitty, I would expect better deduction from a high schooler. First they say that studying and working is the reason we "postpone" motherhood. Okay, fine. Then they mention the drinking-culture as another cultural change that has happened, and that it may make women drink more. Okay, fine.

But those two things are not connected to each other in the text in any way! The main title just makes this leap without any proof. Why would a higher education and a better job make you drink more? Spoiler: it's pretty well proven that people with higher SocioEconomic Status (ie, having more education and money, and better homes and jobs) drink less than those with lower SES.

The study this article is rephrasing doesn't even prove that not having kids makes you drink. It says that childless women drink more than mommies, yes. But the difference could also be explained like this: "women who drink excessively are less likely to have kids, and thank fuck for that!"

These percentage changes they quote are just so fucking random. "Women drink more than before" and "Women have kids later and less often than before" are 2 things than can both be true, and yet have nothing to do with each other. It can be that drinking causes childlessness, or that childlessness causes drinking, or that our culture causes them both. In order to prove one way or another, you need to follow a group of women, and see how things go. Do the drunkards have kids and sober up? Will the girls who educate themselves start to drink after 35? Prove to me that's how it happens, and then we can worry about it. Until then, this is just a smear campaign.

Even if we were alcoholics, at least we're not alcoholics with children like the wine mommies.

Yep. I drink a beer or glass of wine like once or twice a week. My mom was an alcoholic, so I am very mindful of not drinking very often. Plus it makes my hot flashes worse, so there’s no incentive to overindulge. My occasional drinking is social or to relax after work, not drown in my tears over never having children lol.

I do not drink at all. I watched my dad die from liver failure.

Seems more like kids make a woman become a wine-aholic. Personally I spend my free time doing anything besides drinking

Yeah because Beer >>> Kids. So what? It's my life.

I don't even like alcohol. The flavor is disgusting and I don't like the feeling of being tipsy, which happens very easily because I'm a lightweight.

I largely stopped drinking during the pandemic lockdowns. For me, drinking is a social thing and didn't want to develop a bad habit by drinking alone.

Today, I barely touch alcohol and my health is better for it. I prefer weed anyway.

lmao. I'm 35 & 6 years clean from heroin soooo not picking up alcohol anytime soon....

I think this study is a good example how correlation does not mean there is causation. There may be other reasons causing both binge drinking AND delayed parenting, and not childlessness causing binge drinking or vice versa. In addition, the past drinking and symptoms of alcohol use disorder were self reported. I mean, who parent would publicly admit binge drinking or having symptoms of alcohol use disorder.

In the meantime, mums use 'winemom' as an excuse to be an alcoholic.

The wine mom and the dad that comes home drunk every evening because he hates his life are just urban legends, it’s the childfree people who keep the alcohol industry alive.

then how do you explain the 'moo wine culture' now. they seem to be trying to find excuses to drink to dull the misery from sprog rearing

30f here and I am 5 years sober on Aug 30 :) One of the things that pushed me to get sober was the idea that I didn't have to follow the life script and have a kid eventually.

All of my parent friends are only getting worse with their drinking - anecdotal evidence sure but that "Boston University study" isn't even cited in that article? Why did they make those conclusions? Bad science communication here LOL

Most of the alcoholics I know are parents.

Yeah...as if wine moms and alcoholic dads aren't common 😒

Lol ok. Yet the breweries and wine bars where I am are full of parents getting drunk with their kids. Then driving home.

39, child free, sterile, never drank, smoked, used drugs,and don't practice casual sex. What are they going to throw at us now?

There's a reason why gin was called 'mother's ruin'.

I’d rather be an alcoholic than a father

I'm, CF 48F and don't drink. It just doesn't interest me.

Also isn't "wine mom" a thing these crazies are proud of?

I'm so tired of these manipulation tactics to try to force women into a life they want us to have.

Probably because being childfree means you afford to drink? PMSL

I’ve vowed to never drink alcohol because alcoholism runs on both sides of my family. It has nothing to do with me being childfree, I simply don’t want to risk addiction. I wonder what these people would think of that?

I’m in my early fifties, and a very occasional drinker. This article is stupid.

Kinda ironic that they use the wine-MOM example to explain why CF women drink more often.

26 Female haven't touched a drop of alcohol, don't smoke, no drugs, and have plenty of time and money to cook healthy meals at home and exercise multiple times a week.

The only people I ever have ask if we serve alcohol are parents.

I don't drink. Alcohol's gross.

36 and can't drink or have kids for the same reason; I have a genetic condition. Even adopting seems like too much because of how fatigued I am everyday. I do love kids though and have dedicated my life to autism research that has the potential to help a lot of kids.

Lol 30 year old female child free non drinker here ✋

47, CF, also alcohol free.

And let's not talk about mom wine culture.

This doesn’t match my life experience…I’d like to see their sample size and statistics, but I’m too lazy/uninterested to go digging for it.

54F, lifelong alcohol/drug/tobacco free, lifelong child free.

As has been said, the heaviest drinkers I’ve known have been stressed out mothers.

I love alcohol but like to think I have it under control just fine.
I’m pretty positive I would drink way more with the stress of child introduced into my life

As a CF 40F, I can’t wait to retire so I too can be addicted to taking an afternoon nap. I already do on days off and vacations lol.

And here here to the unencumbered travel plans thanks to be spawnless! Ive got a few coming up.

That's funny because in my experience the only alcoholics I know drink because they have kids. The wino mommy meme is a thing for a reason. Growing up, my mom drank a bottle of wine a NIGHT (sometimes 2), but sure, it's the childfree people becoming alcoholics

I wouldn't turn down a fruity gin tbh, but nah, it's the stressed out mums who are downing the wine 🍷

I'm not much of a drinker at all because I have known alcoholics in my life and genuinely can't stand to be around drunk people half the time. 😭 I can maybe get through half or less than half of a can of cider or something before I just lose interest in it. Or I'll get to the point where I'm giggly and a bit buzzed and stop so I don't get a headache. I'm in my late 30s mind.

That’s rich coming from the people who joke about needing a daily bottle of wine to cope with the little bastards they popped out. 😆

Yikes, I’m turning 36 in little over a month. Guess I should head to the liquor store for some serious shopping.

1. and i cant even remember the last time i had alcohol

58 here. Definitely not an alcoholic. My siblings with kids drink waaaay more than I do.

ETA And so do most of their kids.

I take issue with this article because it provided no links to the sources it mentions. I found the boston university article that linked the study from June of this year, posted in the scientific journal Addiction. Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.16262

They use the words "may" and "probably" a lot. So there's not a true correlation. And we're looking at two cohorts: one from the 90's and one from 2018. So I would wager that there are probably other social and life style changes that affect binge-drinking behaviors. Did the study look at social-economic issues? Did they look for history of alcoholism or the rates of depression or other factors that might influence excessive drinking?

Sus.

I’ve never drank in my life, and I don’t think having no kids at 35 will change that

41 F, non alcoholic, not smoking either, just workacholic

I am childfree and pretty much straight edge, so no, not really

I don't drink. I'm one of those people that only taste the ethanol.

I'm AF and CF. Staying that way forever. * I'm 34 F

That's odd. My dad is turning 60 this year and drinks a case of beer a day. I had no idea he was an unmarried woman. Maybe he should have settled down and had some kids.

Waitaminute

Edit: I guess more relevant is my mum's wine habit, though she is a functional alcoholic if nothing else. My dad is a lost cause entirely.

More edit: and I guess even more relevant is that I'm more of a delta 8 gummy person than an alcohol person. But mainly it's to help me sleep and has actually helped me a lot somehow with what I think is C-PTSD. Self-diagnosis because money etc

I didn't get married til after 30. I don't drink alcohol (don't like it plus alcoholism in the family, both sides).

30, childfree, and allergic to alcohol. Checkmate, article.

Child free and alcohol free!

Ah yes, just like that classic rock song, "Non-mother's Little Helper"

Worked in addiction medicine for one year. Addiction can hit anyone, regardless of life circumstances. However, I certainly worked with a lot of moms (and dads) in treatment.

There are a lot of risk factors for addiction. Stress is one of them and children are stressful. No sensible person would tell someone to have kids so they don't become addicted to alcohol. Hell, there are loads of self-help groups for the adult children of alcoholics and addicts.

Articles like this are really annoying because they don't explore underlying factors and they don't even link to the original research which could have a totally different conclusion. It could be that women who don't have children also tend to have more stressful jobs, or experience more financial stress. It might be that child-free women engage in more socializing that includes alcohol. It could be that their sample includes a ton of women who want to have partners and kids and feel depressed because they don't. It could also be that moms in the study are underreporting the amount of drinking they do due to increased stigma around drinking as a parent.

Based on the very limited information in the article, it looks like the research is comparing a group from the past to a group in the present. This type of study cannot tell you why something is happening (causality), it can only tell you what changes are happening across generations. The reason this type of study cannot infer causality is because the groups being compared are wildly different and there are way too many confounding variables.

Personally, as a child-free woman in my early 40's, I drink very little, maybe somewhere around 2-4 drinks in a month. It messes with my sleep too much so I typically avoid it outside of some social events or special occasions.

50, addicted to surfing. Just got back from the ocean, I might take you on on that nap.

wow, talk about correlation without causation in this study. More women are drinking to excess and more women are childfree.

Jokes on them I'm 38 and allergic to alcohol and child free.

Tell that to my grandpa who was an alcoholic father of 12 by age 40.

Childfree, 27, stopped drinking when I was 23? Or 24? Not really sure, lost count after the first year. All my mom friends though? Oh they can throw liquor the fuck back like no one’s business.

33F, hate alcohol cause of the taste and the aftereffects, so uh...inclined to say this study is bunk.

Now if we take a dip into Mommy Wine Culture and the 50s version: Xanax and cocktails....

Child free, 33F. I don't drink bc I have to watch what I put in my body so I don't get fat. I only see this getting worse as my metabolism slows. Might as well start saying "I don't drink" out loud now, cuz it's never getting better

I'll be 33 this year. I think I drink a glass of wine like 1x every month or 2... Most of my CF friends aren't big drinkers either. What will they try to blacken CF women's reputations with next?

31F with no kids.

I drink maybe once a month and thats it. I'm a social drinker, i don't sit at home with a beer every night. It's not my thing.

I’d like to see that actual study. Not a report about the study lol.

They haven’t accounted for other factors like a WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC for the last 3 years that I don’t know, may have caused some stress????? Lol

I’m 48 CF and I don’t drink. Stupid study. Lol

38 CF and I do enjoy a drink or 2 when out with friends. I'm a craft beer and scotch person so I like to try different things but i'm more about the taste than i am about getting drunk. If I had to deal with a kid the volume consumed would skyrocket most likely just to deal with everything.

46 child free & drink in social situations only. I don’t think I’ve ever made a drink at home in my life, unless I was entertaining. My friends with kids drink practically every night.

40 here and got drinking out of my system by my early 20's.

I'm 37 and cf and I drink, but like maybe once or twice a week and just one beer or a couple glasses of wine. I sure had 4 drinks at this horrible speed dating event i went to. Lol