DR. WALLACE: When our extended family gets together every Holiday season, the men consume a lot of beer, and some of them get smashed. Why is it that men drink the beer and get drunk and not the women? Why do men drink more than women? Is it a macho thing? — Nameless, McComb, Miss.

NAMELESS: Your family is from the old school, at least in terms of drinking. There was a time when beer was considered a macho drink and it was crude for a woman to be seen with a bottle in her hand. Polite society could accept a man who was drunk, but would have been aghast at the idea of an inebriated female.

For better or for worse, the women's movement helped alter these images. Now women can do what they want, including indulge in the same vices that men enjoy. As a result, the number of female alcoholics is growing rapidly. In 1950, less than 10 percent of Alcoholics Anonymous members were women; now about 30 percent of active members in AA are women.

Beer is no longer strictly macho. Beer companies are well aware that many women now like to join the men in having a cold one, so a portion of their advertising budget is aimed specifically at females.

One problem with this is that alcohol affects men differently than it does women, who tend to get drunk quicker because women have more body fat. This means a woman's body has a lesser ability to dilute the alcohol because it is absorbed in the fat.

The women in your family are smart to avoid competing with the men in beer chugging. Let's hope they stay smart.

SIX REASONS WHY A TEEN RUNS AWAY

DR. WALLACE: My 16-year-old cousin has run away from home several times, and his parents can't figure out why he runs away. His parents seem nice and they live in our town in a nice house. I've asked my cousin why he runs away and he tells me that he hates living at home, but he won't tell me why he hates it.

I'm sure a lot of kids run away. The reason they run away has me baffled. I get angry with my parents at times, but I have never entertained the thought of leaving my home. What are the reasons why kids would rather hit the street than stay at home? — Nameless, Brookhaven, Miss.

NAMELESS: A group in Washington, D.C., the National Network of Runaway and Youth Service, has listed six prime reasons why a teen would choose life on the mean streets over the safety of home:

1. Poor family communication; abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation or fear of such treatment.

2. Unreasonable demands or restrictions placed on them by the parents.

3. Disruption within the family; divorce or threat of divorce, death or serious illness within the family.

4. Wage earner's loss of a job.

5. Rejection, abandonment or threat of abandonment by parents.

6. Peer pressure (that is, joining a friend who has decided to run away from home.)

The best remedy for removing the threat of running away is open and honest communication between parent and teen, and lots of kind words, hugs and love.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.