Abstract
This study tested the hypothesis that sex differences in visuospatial abilities (favoring men) and social-cognitive abilities (favoring women) will be attenuated with chronic stressor exposure, binge drinking in this case. Among light drinkers, men’s typical advantage on visuospatial tasks (Ns = 73, 116; ds = 0.72, 0.49) and women’s typical advantage on a social-cognitive task (N = 210; d = 0.29) was confirmed. Among binge drinkers, men’s advantage was reduced for one visuospatial task and eliminated for another (Ns = 102, 93; ds = 0.43, -0.26), and women’s advantage on the social-cognitive task was eliminated (N = 209; d = 0.17). Males who frequently engaged in extreme binges (> 11 drinks/episode) had exaggerated deficits on one of the visuospatial tasks, as did their female counterparts on the social-cognitive task. The results suggest sex-specific vulnerabilities associated with binge drinking, and support an evolutionary approach to the study of such vulnerabilities.
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