Study: Better educated women more likely to drink

Women’s alcohol consumption can even be predicted from their scores in school tests taken when they are as as young as five.

Women who achieved “medium” or “high” test marks as schoolgirls are up to 2.1 times more likely to drink daily as adults.

The authors of the report, Francesca Borgonovi and Maria Huerta, suggest several possible explanations as to why better-educated women drink more.

They tend to have children later, postponing the responsibilities of parenthood. They may have more active social lives or work in male-dominated workplaces with a drinking culture.

As girls, they may have grown up in middle-class families and seen their parents drink regularly.