Sexual orientation and first-year college students' nonmedical use of prescription drugs

Abstract

There may be particular risk for NMUPD associated with membership in marginalized groups in terms of both sexual orientation and gender.

Prevalence and Correlates of Prescription Drug Misuse Among a Racially Diverse Sample of Young Sexual Minority Men

“…Most evidence suggests that YSMM who do not identify as gay are at greater risk than gay-identified youth for misusing prescription drugs. 7,9,17,18 One study did not find elevated odds for bisexual high school students, 10 but this pattern is generally consistent with findings for other substances. [19][20][21] Nonwhite YSMM appear to be at lower risk than white YSMM for misusing prescription drugs, 8,18 which is also consistent with findings for other substances 19,21 and among general youth populations.…”

“…2 Limited research suggests that some groups of male sexual minority youth may have elevated rates of prescription drug misuse. [7][8][9][10] However, prevalence estimates of the behavior among young sexual minority men (YSMM) are generally lacking. Early work on this topic was primarily conducted with adult SMM and sampled from Pride events or groups of current illicit substance users, limiting generalizability.…”

“…Early work on this topic was primarily conducted with adult SMM and sampled from Pride events or groups of current illicit substance users, limiting generalizability. [11][12][13][14] Among the small number of studies with youth, most combined different genders and/or sexual orientations 8,9,[15][16][17] or sampled youth who were already regular misusers of prescription drugs, 14,16,18 precluding accurate estimates of general misuse specifically among YSMM.…”

“…A study of college freshmen did differentiate and found that 15.7% of the gay males misused any prescription drug and that 11.4%, 6.5%, and 8.1% misused stimulants, anxiolytics, and painkillers, respectively. 9 Bisexual and questioning individuals in that study were not separated by gender, and the sample comprised people enrolled in a private university; college-bound students have been shown to be less likely to misuse medications than those who are not. 2 Given the state of the literature, there is a need to disentangle males from females and YSMM from older SMM as well as to examine misuse of specific types of prescription drugs among more representative samples.…”

The epidemiology of benzodiazepine misuse: A systematic review

“…Sexual minority groups were more likely to misuse benzodiazepines, as compared to those with heterosexual identities (Cochran et al, 2004) Adolescents/young adults in the U.S. Sexual minority groups were more likely to misuse benzodiazepines, as compared to those with heterosexual identities (Dagirmanjian et al, 2017;McCabe, 2005;Shadick et al, 2016) Adolescents/young adults outside of the U.S. Sexual minority groups were more likely to misuse benzodiazepines, as compared to those with heterosexual identities (Li et al, 2018) Other subgroups (e.g., men who have sex with men, adults in the club drug scene) Sexual identity was not associated with benzodiazepine misuse Parsons, 2007, 2010;Kelly et al, 2015a;Kelly et al, 2013) Gay sexual identity was associated with lower risk of benzodiazepine misuse, as compared to hetero-or bi-sexual identities (Kecojevic et al, 2015c)…”