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The narrowing gap between binge drinking among adult women and men has been driven partly by women’s rising use of alcohol for social reasons—to have fun. In addition, women are increasingly using alcohol to relax or relieve tension, a new study has found. Alcohol use in the USA has increased steadily over the past 20 years, and excessive drinking underlies 1 in 8 deaths of working-age adults. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a 25% increase in alcohol-related deaths from 2019 to 2020. Overall, figures like these mask differences by age, however. For over four decades, alcohol use and binge drinking have declined among adolescents and early adults. But by age 30, that effect has plateaued or reversed. Binge drinking has risen more among women than men, narrowing the gender gap for reasons that haven’t been explained by broad societal trends (such as education, family timing, and gender roles). For the study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, US researchers considered the