Substance abuse and mental health disparities: Comparisons across sexual identity groups in a national sample of young Australian women

Hughes, Tonda L.; Szalacha, Laura A.; McNair, Ruth

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.05.009

Cited by 157 publications

(187 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Studies that address these processes McCabe et al, 2010;Meyer, 2003) indicate that stress related to sexual-minority status plays an important role. In addition, recent research suggests that adverse childhood experiences, including childhood sexual and physical abuse, may help explain sexualminority women's heightened risk of hazardous drinking and psychological distress (Balsam et al, 2010;Hughes et al, 2010aHughes et al, , 2010b.…”

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confidence: 99%

Hazardous Drinking, Depression, and Anxiety Among Sexual-Minority Women: Self-Medication or Impaired Functioning?

Johnson

Hughes

Cho

et al. 2013

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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ABSTRACT. Objective: Sexual-minority women are at heightened risk for a number of mental health problems, including hazardous alcohol consumption, depression, and anxiety. We examined self-medication and impaired-functioning models of the associations among these variables and interpreted results within a life course framework that considered the unique social stressors experienced by sexual-minority women. Method: Data were from a sample of 384 women interviewed during the fi rst two waves of the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study. Results: Covariance structure modeling revealed that (a) consistent with a self-medication process, anxiety was prospectively associated with hazardous drinking and (b) consistent with an impairedfunctioning process, hazardous drinking was prospectively associated with depression. Conclusions: Our fi ndings support a life course perspective that interprets the mental health of adult sexual-minority women as infl uenced by adverse childhood experiences, age at drinking onset, fi rst heterosexual intercourse, and fi rst sexual identity disclosure, as well as by processes associated with self-medication and impaired functioning during adulthood. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 74, 565-575, 2013)

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Hazardous Drinking, Depression, and Anxiety Among Sexual-Minority Women: Self-Medication or Impaired Functioning?

Johnson

Hughes

Cho

et al. 2013

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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“…Alcohol Drugs, 73, 675-685, 2012) A CCUMULATING EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT individuals with minority sexual orientation, regardless of their gender, tend to have higher rates of illicit drug and heavy alcohol use than do their same-gender heterosexual counterparts (Burgard et al, 2005;Cochran et al, , 2004Drabble et al, 2005;Gruskin et al, 2001;Hughes et al, 2010;McCabe et al, 2009;McLaughlin et al, 2010;Talley et al, 2011). Several population-based studies have reported higher rates of illicit drug and alcohol use and problem drinking among homosexually active women compared with exclusively heterosexual women, even after controlling for differences in sociodemographic characteristics (Burgard et al, 2005;Cochran et al, , 2004Drabble et al, 2005;Gruskin et al, 2001;Hughes et al, 2010;McCabe et al, 2009;McLaughlin et al, 2010;Talley et al, 2011). Further, a population-based survey of women ages 18-29 in low-income neighborhoods in northern California found that women who reported having both male and female sexual partners had signifi cantly higher rates of injection drug use compared with others (Scheer et al, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Most often these disparities are attributed to a greater probability for exposure to antigay stigma and discrimination, both in childhood and as adults (Hamilton and Mahalik, 2009;Hughes et al, 2010;Mays and Cochran, 2001;Stall et al, 2003;Wilsnack and Wilsnack, 1995). Known as the "minority stress hypothesis" (Meyer, 2003;Stall et al, 2003), this perspective asserts that the higher rates of dysfunctional alcohol and illicit drug use found among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are a direct or indirect consequence of social disadvantage.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Several population-based studies have reported higher rates of illicit drug and alcohol use and problem drinking among homosexually active women compared with exclusively heterosexual women, even after controlling for differences in sociodemographic characteristics (Burgard et al, 2005;Cochran et al, , 2004Drabble et al, 2005;Gruskin et al, 2001;Hughes et al, 2010;McCabe et al, 2009;McLaughlin et al, 2010;Talley et al, 2011). Further, a population-based survey of women ages 18-29 in low-income neighborhoods in northern California found that women who reported having both male and female sexual partners had signifi cantly higher rates of injection drug use compared with others (Scheer et al, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Do Substance Use Norms and Perceived Drug Availability Mediate Sexual Orientation Differences in Patterns of Substance Use? Results from the California Quality of Life Survey II

Cochran

Grella

Mays

2012

J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs

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ABSTRACT. Objective: Illicit drug and heavy alcohol use is more common among sexual minorities compared with heterosexuals. This difference has sometimes been attributed to more tolerant substance use norms within the gay community, although evidence is sparse. The current study investigated the role of perceived drug availability and tolerant injunctive norms in mediating the linkage between minority sexual orientation status and higher rates of prior-year substance use. Method: We used data from the second California Quality of Life Survey (Cal-QOL II), a followback telephone survey in 2008-2009 of individuals fi rst interviewed in the population-based 2007 California Health Interview Survey. The sample comprised 2,671 individuals, oversampled for minority sexual orientation. Respondents were administered a structured interview assessing past-year alcohol and illicit drug use, perceptions of perceived illicit drug availability, and injunctive norms concerning illicit drug and heavier alcohol use. We used structural equation modeling methods to test a mediational model linking sexual orientation and substance use behaviors via perceptions of drug availability and social norms pertaining to substance use. Results: Compared with heterosexual individuals, sexual minorities reported higher levels of substance use, perceived drug availability, and tolerant social norms. A successfully fi tting model suggests that much of the association between minority sexual orientation and substance use is mediated by these sexual orientation-related differences in drug availability perceptions and tolerant norms for substance use. Conclusions: Social environmental context, including subcultural norms and perceived drug availability, is an important factor infl uencing substance use among sexual minorities and should be addressed in community interventions. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 73, 675-685, 2012) A CCUMULATING EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT individuals with minority sexual orientation, regardless of their gender, tend to have higher rates of illicit drug and heavy alcohol use than do their same-gender heterosexual counterparts (Burgard et al., 2005;Cochran et al., , 2004Drabble et al., 2005;Gruskin et al., 2001;Hughes et al., 2010;McCabe et al., 2009;McLaughlin et al., 2010;Talley et al., 2011). Several population-based studies have reported higher rates of illicit drug and alcohol use and problem drinking among homosexually active women compared with exclusively heterosexual women, even after controlling for differences in sociodemographic characteristics (Burgard et al., 2005;Cochran et al., , 2004Drabble et al., 2005;Gruskin et al., 2001;Hughes et al., 2010;McCabe et al., 2009;McLaughlin et al., 2010;Talley et al., 2011). Further, a population-based survey of women ages 18-29 in low-income neighborhoods in northern California found that women who reported having both male and female sexual partners had signifi cantly higher rates of injection drug use compared with others (Scheer et al., 2002). Similarly, studies conducted with m...

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“…Studies over the past two decades, in particular, have described such health inequities, including higher risk for disability [1], cardiovascular disease [2], and substance abuse [3], and their associations with SGM stigma and discrimination [4] [5] [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smoking out Health Disparities in Sexual and Gender Minorities: Lessons from the National Adult Tobacco Survey

Stepleman¹,

Lopez²,

Rawlins³

et al. 2017

JSS

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Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in the United States experience a number of health disparities and unique contributing factors to them. From a research perspective, survey design and implementation challenges, such as lack of inclusion of effective items for assessing SGM status and inadequate sampling methods, remain barriers to studying SGM. The purpose of this commentary is to describe, using the National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) survey items and datasets, the primary limitations we encountered when trying to describe SGM tobacco use. Our intent is to demonstrate through use of a national dataset around a specific health disparity, the imperative for researchers to change their data collection strategies and practices around tobacco use and other healthcare priorities. Our team utilized the 2009 NATS dataset as well as the 2012 iteration to highlight significant changes between them regarding demographics, tobacco use, and access to healthcare, in addition to methodological concerns regarding sampling strategies. It is critical that researchers strive to use items for survey research that accurately capture data on marginalized groups. Additionally, careful consideration is warranted regarding strategies to identify members of these populations, changes in item wording, and changes in questions asked over time in an effort to track changes in behavior over time.

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Substance abuse and mental health disparities: Comparisons across sexual identity groups in a national sample of young Australian women

Cited by 157 publications

References 37 publications

Hazardous Drinking, Depression, and Anxiety Among Sexual-Minority Women: Self-Medication or Impaired Functioning?

Hazardous Drinking, Depression, and Anxiety Among Sexual-Minority Women: Self-Medication or Impaired Functioning?

Do Substance Use Norms and Perceived Drug Availability Mediate Sexual Orientation Differences in Patterns of Substance Use? Results from the California Quality of Life Survey II

Smoking out Health Disparities in Sexual and Gender Minorities: Lessons from the National Adult Tobacco Survey

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