Mentor: Anna Radke, Ph.D.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic condition that affects 27.9 million Americans ages 12 and older. A significant feature of AUD is increased and excessive alcohol drinking over time. According to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 26.7% of young adults ages 18 to 25 reported binge drinking in the past month (NSDUH, 2025). It is also reported that more than half of the 100,000 annual deaths attributed to alcohol abuse result from chronic misuse (NCDAS, 2025).

While AUD significantly affects both men and women, data from clinical populations highlight significant sex differences in the prevalence of this disorder. For example, men generally have higher rates of alcohol use compared to women. Research in young adults, however, shows slightly higher rates of binge drinking in females ages 12-20 than in their male counterparts. Among individuals with AUD, women have death rates 50-100 percent higher than that of men (NIH, 2022). Research in rodents suggests that females may have a greater biological vulnerability to alcohol. Across various paradigms, female rodents have been shown to consume more ethanol than males (Hwa et al., 2011; Radke et al., 2021). This effect has been consistently replicated in our lab using the same limited-access paradigm described in this project. By removing the social influences of alcohol drinking behaviors, animal models can help identify the biological factors that contribute to increased vulnerability and resilience. While sex differences in ethanol consumption have been established in the literature, the specific neurobiological factors driving this complex health problem remain significantly understudied.

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