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Jewish Alcoholism

However, new evidence puts the lie to such statistics when other factors are taken into consideration. In the 1990s, the New York Division of Substance Abuse and Alcoholism published its results of 6000 households, disclosing that incidence of addiction among Jews is the same as the general population: 12 percent (Loewenthal 2002: 7).

While alcohol abuse and alcoholism rates may be lower among Jews, substance abuse rates and incidence of addiction rates are comparable to the general population. Even in studies that show lower rates of alcohol abuse and dependence among Jews, other disorders appear to level the playing field when looking at substance abuse and mood disorders combined. Levav (et al. 1997) note that lifetime rate of alcohol abuse and dependence is lower in Jews, but “when the rate of alcoholism was added to the rate of depression, results were the same for Jews and non-Jews” (p. 7). In an effort to explain such a phenomenon, some speculate that non-Jewish men may mask the symptoms of major depression through alcohol abuse. Further, not using alcohol to a heavy degree may remove a coping mechanism from the lives of Jews who do not drink. This may result in more symptoms of depression surfacing.

Genetics and predisposition to alcohol being higher in Catholic and other Western religious groups may play a role in differences in alcohol abuse and dependence rates. An epidemiological survey was carried out at the University of California, San Diego, on two groups of men between 18 and 25. There were 110 Jewish men in the first group and 594 Catholic men in the second group. The study did not find major differences in drinking episodes or quantities, but it did

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Jewish Alcoholism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:17, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685760.html