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

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Sexual minority adolescents are more likely than their heterosexual peers to use substances. This study tested factors that contribute to sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially and ethnically diverse adolescents. Specifically, we examined how both minority stress (i.e., homophobic bullying) and social norms (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) may account for sexual orientation disparities in recent and lifetime use of four substances: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs. PROCEDURES:A probability sample of middle and high school students (N=3012; aged 11-18 years old; 71.2% racial and ethnic minorities) using random cluster methods was obtained in a mid-size school district in the Southeastern United States. RESULTS:Sexual minority adolescents were more likely than heterosexual adolescents to use substances, experience homophobic bullying, and report higher descriptive norms for close friends and more permissive injunctive norms for friends and parents. While accounting for sociodemographic characteristics, multiple mediation models concurrently testing all mediators indicated that higher descriptive and more permissive injunctive norms were significant mediators of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of the four substances, whereas homophobic bullying was not a significant mediator of the associations between sexual orientation and recent and lifetime use of any of the substances. CONCLUSIONS:Descriptive and injunctive norms, in conjunction with minority stress, are important to consider in explaining sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially diverse adolescents. These results have implications for substance use interventions among sexual minority adolescents.

SUBMITTER: Mereish EH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5575887 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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

Mereish Ethan H EH Goldbach Jeremy T JT Burgess Claire C DiBello Angelo M AM

Drug and alcohol dependence 20170608

<h4>Background</h4>Sexual minority adolescents are more likely than their heterosexual peers to use substances. This study tested factors that contribute to sexual orientation disparities in substance use among racially and ethnically diverse adolescents. Specifically, we examined how both minority stress (i.e., homophobic bullying) and social norms (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms) may account for sexual orientation disparities in recent and lifetime use of four substances: tobacco, alco ...[more]

PMID: 28641130

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Project description:BackgroundLittle comparative data on substance use (SU) between sexual minority youth (SMY) and heterosexual youth (HET) is available. This study compares the prevalence of SU in an urban cohort between SMY and HET and evaluates demographic and psychosocial predictors of SU.MethodsData came from a prospective-longitudinal cohort study in an urban setting (N = 1297). SU and psychosocial variables such as internalizing symptoms, self-control, sensation-seeking, bullying-victimization, subjective stress, leisure activities, and peer influences were assessed with self-reports at age 17 and 20. SU was stratified by sex and sexual attraction, and the groups were compared using regression models, with demographic and psychosocial variables included as covariates.ResultsSMY- and HET-youth displayed differences in a number of psychosocial variables. Overall, SMY- and HET-youth differed in their 12-months prevalence of SU: At age 17, SMY-females had significantly higher rates of SU than HET-females for cannabis (aOR = 2.14, p = 0.04), ecstasy/MDMA (aOR = 4.29, p = 0.01), and hallucinogens (aOR = 5.59, p = 0.02). At age 20, SMY-females had significantly higher rates of SU than HET-females for tobacco (aOR = 2.06, p = 0.03), cannabis (aOR = 2.24, p = 0.004), ecstasy/MDMA (aOR = 3.93, p < 0.001), stimulants (aOR = 3.45, p = 0.002), and hallucinogens (aOR = 6.65, p < 0.001). SMY-males reported significantly lower rates for tobacco and cannabis than HET-males at age 17. At age 20, they reported significantly higher rates for the use of ecstasy/MDMA (aOR = 2.30, p = 0.04) and hallucinogens (aOR = 2.43, p = 0.03).ConclusionsGiven that psychosocial variables were significant covariates of SMY-status and SU, our results underline the importance of accounting for these when explaining differences in SU between adolescents. While differentiation by sex is established in most studies, such standardized comparisons are lacking with regards to sexual identities. But knowledge about SU of SMY is critical for designing effective interventions. This is especially true for SMY-females: Thus, SU in SMY-females early in life needs to be explored more thoroughly and addressed with adequate prevention measures.

Dataset Information

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

Publications

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

Similar Datasets

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