New Data on Women Who Work Full Time
A recent report from SAMHSA describes rates of substance use as well as the need for treatment among women employed full time.
Substance Use and Treatment Need Among Women Employed Full Time reports annual averages for 2004 to 2008 showing that among the nearly 50 million women age 18 to 64 who were employed full time, 9.9 million engaged in binge drinking (19.8 percent), and 3.2 million used illicit drugs (6.4 percent) in the past month.
The rates of past-month binge alcohol use and illicit drug use among women employed full time decreased with age.
For example, nearly two-fifths (37.3 percent) of women age 18 to 25 who were employed full time reported past-month binge alcohol use compared with 25.9 percent of those age 26 to 34, 18.1 percent of those age 35 to 49, and 9.3 percent of those age 50 to 64.
About 3.6 million women employed full time were classified as being in need of treatment for an alcohol or drug use problem. Only 5.8 percent of these women received treatment at a specialty facility.
The report is based on SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which collects information on substance use and receipt of substance use treatment through interviews with people from across the country.
Download Substance Use and Treatment Need Among Women Employed Full Time.
Once women with substance abuse issues are admitted to treatment facilities, understanding their behaviors and characteristics may help providers better meet their needs. A recent report from SAMHSA’s Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) examines these characteristics and behaviors. Employed Female Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment reveals that in 2008, of all those women age 18 or older who were admitted to substance abuse treatment facilities, 22.9 percent were employed.
And among those women who had employment at the time of their admission, 47.3 percent reported alcohol as their primary substance of abuse, making alcohol the most commonly reported primary substance. As for other drugs, heroin and cocaine were half as likely to be the primary substance of abuse by employed female admissions as by those who did not work (8.0 versus 17.2 percent for heroin; 9.1 versus 17.3 percent for cocaine).
Employed female admissions were more likely than other female admissions to have been referred to treatment by the criminal justice system (41.5 versus 26.3 percent), and this employed group was three times more likely than other admissions to be referred through driving under the influence (DUI) programs. Only a very small proportion was referred to treatment by their employer or an employee assistance program (1.2 percent).
Download Employed Female Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment.