DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An analysis of county data shows that the rates of binge drinking among most Iowa women have increased faster than those of men between 2002 and 2012. The Des Moines Register reports that prevention specialists say the shift has occurred amid an increasingly normalized drinking culture, where the beer tent is the mainstay of town celebrations.

According to the analysis released this spring of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, the largest increase in binge drinking rates in Iowa was in Dickinson County. The county saw a 50 percent increase among females in binge drinking. More than 1 in 4 women in the county were binge drinkers in 2012.