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Aims. To examine the consistency and/or variability of gender differences in drinking behavior cross-culturally. Design, setting, participants. Women's and men's responses in 16 general population surveys from 10 countries, analyzed by members of the International Research Group on Gender and Alcohol. Measurements. Comparable measures of drinking, versus abstention, typical drinking frequencies and quantities, heavy episodic drinking, intoxication, morning drinking, and alcohol-related family and occupational problems. Findings. Women and men differed little in the probability of currently drinking versus abstaining, but men consistently exceeded women in typical drinking frequencies and quantities and in rates of heavy drinking episodes and adverse drinking consequences, while women were consistently more likely than men to be life-time abstainers. In older age groups, both men and women drank smaller quantities of alcohol and were more likely to stop drinking altogether, but drinking frequencies did not change consistently with age. Conclusions. A theoretical synthesis proposes that gender roles may amplify biological differences in reactions to alcohol, and that gender differences in drinking behavior may be modified by macrosocial factors that modify gender role contrasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]