Sexual Orientation Disparities in the Use of Emerging Drugs

Abstract

Our results are notable given the dearth of data documenting use of increasingly emerging or "trendy" substances such as prescription drugs. More research is needed to understand the underlying cause of these disparities, and efforts should be targeted toward this population to reduce negative outcomes from misuse.

The Effects of Gender- and Sexuality-Based Harassment on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Substance Use Disparities

“…While we confirmed previous literature on sexual identity disparities in smoking and drinking, 1–6,8 our study provides novel insights about disparities for transgender populations and about vaping as a health disparity for LGBT adolescents. 11,12 Because electronic cigarettes are relatively new, our findings suggest LGBT adolescents are more vulnerable than cisgender heterosexuals to using emerging substances in the future, calling for ongoing surveillance of gender and sexual identity differences in use of emerging substances. Though the transgender-by-LGB-only interaction was not significant for any substances, the main effects were large for transgender and LGB only; the nonsignificant interaction suggests the combined effect was not greater than additive.…”

“…8,9 Less research has examined how these transgender–cisgender disparities differ by age/grade and sexual identity; however, this kind of intersectionality research 10 was deemed a priority by the Institute of Medicine. 7 Additionally, few studies have examined gender and sexual identity disparities in electronic cigarette use (i.e., vaping), 11,12 despite vaping being more prevalent among adolescents than conventional cigarette smoking. 13 Though the negative effects of adolescent smoking and alcohol use are well established, 14,15 the effects of vaping are nascent.…”

Sexual orientation, minority stress, social norms, and substance use among racially diverse adolescents

“…There were too few participants for SMA adolescents to consider subgroups of SMA separately (e.g., bisexual adolescents). The mostly heterosexual group ( n = 499) was not included in these analyses, because prior analyses of this dataset did not document many substance use disparities between mostly heterosexual adolescents and heterosexual adolescents in this sample (Goldbach et al, 2017). For all analyses, the reference group was heterosexual adolescents, coded as 0, and the target group was SMA adolescents, coded as 1.…”

Addressing Research Gaps in Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents' Substance Use and Misuse

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Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents report higher rates of substance use and misuse compared with their heterosexual and cisgender peers [1,2]. These disparities span across several substances, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription and illicit drugs, as well as more recent popular substances such as electronic cigarettes [3]. Disparities in substance use are well documented among sexual minority adolescents, and a growing body of research has more recently documented disparities among gender minority adolescents [2,4].

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