Drug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 87, Issues 2
Sexual orientation, gender, and alcohol use in a cohort study of U.S. adolescent girls and boys
Najat J. Ziyadeh a,
Lisa A. Prokop a,
Laurie B. Fisher b,Margaret Rosario c,
Alison E. Field a, b,
Carlos A. Camargo, Jr. b and
S. Bryn Austin a, b, , mailto:bryn.austin@childrens.harvard.edu
a Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA
b Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA
c Department of Psychology, City University of New York—City College and Graduate Center, NAC Building 7-120, Convent Avenue and 138th Street, New York, NY 10031, USA
Received 31 March 2006; revised 1 August 2006; accepted 2 August 2006. Available online 12 September 2006.
Abstract
Background
Sexual minority youth may be at elevated risk for alcohol use relative to heterosexual youth, but the reasons underlying higher rates and whether there may be gender differences in risk are not known.
Methods
Cross-sectional survey data from 9731 early and middle adolescent girls and boys in the Growing Up Today Study in 1999 were examined to assess sexual orientation and gender patterns in alcohol use. Multivariable regression models estimated associations between sexual orientation and alcohol-related behaviors, such as binge drinking and drinking before age 12 years. Models controlled for sociodemographic and psychosocial factors, with heterosexuals as the reference.
Results
Girls who described themselves as “mostly heterosexual” and lesbian/bisexual girls were at elevated risk compared to heterosexual girls on almost all alcohol-related behaviors and exposures. “Mostly heterosexual” boys were also at elevated risk. No significant differences in alcohol-related behaviors were observed between gay/bisexual and heterosexual boys.
Gender-by-sexual orientation interactions were statistically significant for LGB but not other orientations, indicating that lesbian/bisexual girls experienced elevated risk above and beyond that of gay/bisexual boys relative to same-gender heterosexual peers.
Conclusions
In early and middle adolescence, sexual minority girls and “mostly heterosexual” boys experienced consistent patterns of elevated risk for alcohol use.
Keywords: Alcohol; Adolescence; Sexual minority; Gay; Lesbian; Epidemiology
Corresponding author at: Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. Tel.: +1 617 355 8194; fax: +1 617 730 0185.
