Sexual orientation and drug use in a longitudinal cohort study of U.S. adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents with a minority sexual orientation (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual) are more likely to use substances than their heterosexual peers. This study aimed to increase understanding of the development of drug use in this vulnerable population by: 1) comparing longitudinal patterns of pastyear illicit drug use (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy) and misuse of prescription drugs among minority sexual orientation youth relative to heterosexual youth and, 2) examining how sexual orientation subgroup, gender, and age relate to variation in risk of drug use. Data come from the Growing Up Today Study, a community-based cohort of adolescents who were assessed three times between 1999-2005 with self-administered questionnaires when they ranged in age from 12 to 23 years (N=12,644; 74.9% of the original cohort). Multivariable repeated measures generalized estimating equations using modified Poisson regression was used to estimate relative risks. Participants indicating their sexual orientation was mostly heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian/gay were more likely than completely heterosexual youth to report past-year illicit drug use and misuse of prescription drugs. Gender was an important modifier; bisexual females were most likely to report Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. ContributorsDrs. Corliss and Austin designed the study. Dr. Corliss and Ms. Wylie conducted data analysis. Dr. Wypij provided statistical consultation. All authors participated in data interpretation. Dr. Corliss wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to critical revisions of the manuscript for important intellectual content and have approved the final manuscript. Drs. Corliss, Austin, and Frazier obtained funding. Conflict of InterestAll authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. NIH Public Access

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“…Fifteen were excluded for other reasons (Figure 1). A total of 30 studies were included; all were cross-sectional, except two [8,9].…”

“…For example, NSDUH includes Darvocet, Darvon, Tylox, Lortab, and Lorcet, whereas MTF includes OxyContin, Demerol, Dilaudid, morphine, and opium. The definition of NMUPM used in most of the non-nationally representative studies was similar to that used in the MTF and NSA-R, in that they specifically queried students about their use of prescription drugs not prescribed to them [7][8][9][31][32][33]35,36,38] (Table 2).…”

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