The Pittsburgh Press (September 18, 1946)
Ferguson: The whys of drinking
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
The increase of alcoholism among women is alarming, says a well-known doctor, who believes solution of the problem must come from the home. Children who do not feel secure are liable, as adults, to drink more than others. People who have a set of spiritual values given to them in infancy escape dangers more easily.
But let’s talk turkey about drinking. Many men and women whose parents were teetotalers with homes as secure as the Rock of Gibraltar are drunks.
Millions have taken up the habit because cocktails are fashionable – and for no other reason. In the country young people drink because they hear it is done in swanky city sets. Middle-aged folks drink because they fear to be called moralists by youngsters. The poor drink because they know the rich do it. Women drink because they would rather be dead than out of style.
Many think they can’t have a good time unless they’re half tight. Certainly this foolish idea did not spring from the American home. Every mother of our time knows that children are influenced by group social behavior more than they are by parental sermons and example.
Until social stigma again attaches to drunkenness, there’s little parents can do about it. Reformers ought to take this into consideration. It’s smart to drink – that’s the root of the trouble.