Alcohol consumption in childbearing women is a public health concern because of adverse health implications for the mother and baby. Alcoholic women are more at risk for developing cirrhosis of the liver, heart problems and nerve damage at a faster rate than alcohol-dependent men. Alcohol abuse poses a risk on the pregnancy and the unborn child, such that the effects can cause long-standing effects in the development of the child. The aim of this study was to explore the factors contributing to the abuse of alcohol among women of age group of 18–45 in Mtendere compound and know why Zambian women labelled heavy drinkers compared to other nations. Independent variables associated with the abuse of alcohol among women were educational level, age, and legislative laws which were tested.

Qualitative and Quantitative designs were used. A qualitative design was used to explore the personal factors, the social-cultural factors and the psychological factors. Quantitative design was used to generate the statistics of the total respondents sampled under the study. A sample size of 150 respondents was selected using convenient sampling design as it is easily accessible and available to select the sample. It is based on using people who are a captive audience, those that the researcher meets haphazardly or accidentally.

To To collect the data, two methods were used: an interview and a questionnaire. The interview was done using a structured questionnaire. To ensure validity in this research, the following was done: an adequate sample size was selected to increase validity, when selecting the sample, it was ensured that the sample had characteristics needed in the research. The data collection tools were made in a user-friendly manner and this was achieved by avoiding the ambitious, Leading and Fixed questions in the questionnaire and in the interviews. To ensure reliability in this research, the following was done: Goals and objectives clearly defined, operationalized and were matched with the assessment measures to the goals and objectives. A pilot study was conducted from Chilenje, and it has similar characteristics to our study site. Data was collected using structured interview and questionnaire, then it was entered on an SPSS spread sheet and analysed using SPSS version 17 of the computer software.

Majority of the respondents were between the age range of 18-35 (youths 76%) and the minority were between the ages of 36 and 45 (adults, 24%). The findings revealed that (66%) participants) described alcohol abuse as heavy drinking, while (15%) described it as infrequent drinking. Despite the participants having knowledge of what alcohol abuse is, as indicated in the study findings, the participants abused alcohol, with youths having the highest (43%) rate of alcohol abuse. The study further revealed that some of the factors contributing to alcohol abuse were; peer influence (44%), curiosity (7%), and idleness (2%).