Alcohol use and problems associated with drinking are reportedly higher among lesbians than among heterosexuals. Extant theories, focused on intrapsychic variables and stressors inherent to the lesbian lifestyle, do not account for the wide variability in drinking practices and consequences reported by individual respondents to studies of this population. This paper examines bicultural competence, or the ability to function effectively within two cultures simultaneously, as a framework for understanding that variability and one that may also help to predict vulnerability and resistance to alcohol problems among lesbian social drinkers.
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