Women between normality and dependence: a study of problematic consumption and dependence in women aged 30–50 years

Introduction: In the field of dependence, there have been few studies on populations of “normal” women. Aims: To quantify the prevalence of problematic consumption of legal and illegal psychoactive substances, pathological gambling and compulsive buying in a sample of 433 Italian women aged between 30 and 50 years. Methods: Selection per quota in various shopping malls in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Results: About 13.9% have risk-level alcohol consumption, 9.2% have a medium–high level of tobacco addiction, 7.2% tested positive for compulsive shopping, 1.6% have cannabis dependence and 0.5% are pathological gamblers. Multivariate analysis reveals a relationship between high-risk alcohol consumption and cannabis dependence, and between tobacco addiction and compulsive shopping. Conclusions: The research reveals various consumption profiles and “minor dependences” which appear to be functional to the ways in which this specific target-group faces ordinary everyday life.