Journal Review: Sexual Orientation and Substance Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults

       For this journal article review I decided to read an article titled "Sexual Orientation and Substance Use Among Adolescent and Young Adults."  After reading Chapter 11: Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in the book Addiction Treatment I was very interested in the differences that occur in substance use due to a person's sexual orientation.  That difference is not one that most people would think about and so I wanted to learn more about it.
     The purpose of this article was to look at the impact that self-identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience have on substance abuse among adolescents and young people.  In order to see the association between these three traits and the use of tobacco, drugs and alcohol, the researchers used the National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6, conducted in 2002.   This survey consisted of 2062 females and 1901 males, aged 15 to 24 years old.  The age range of 15 to 24 was chosen because this age range covers the primary sexual development and the time when adolescents are transitioning into adulthood and look towards coping strategies to help them with their problems.  Within the study the researchers developed specific definitions for sexual experience and sexual identity.  Sexual experience was split between males and females with specific criteria needed for a sexual experience to be considered in the study.  Sexual identity was spilt into three categories, those who identify as homosexual (gay, lesbian, or bisexual), heterosexual and those identifying as uncertain or something else.  With the specific criteria and the results from the National Survey of Family Growth Cycle 6 the researchers were able to come up with conclusions on the relation between substance use and sexual orientation.  It was concluded that substance use varied significantly between gender and across the dimensions of sexual orientation.  Researchers also concluded that sexual experience had a major impact on substance use.  Both females and males with no sexual experience had the lowest accounts of substance use, while those with sexual experiences with partners of either gender had the highest number of substance use cases.  The data in this study can show that there is less of an association between sexual orientation and substance use then there is sexual experience and substance use.  These results show that more testing is needed in order to show if sexual orientation has an effect on the rates of substance use.
        The information in this study can be related to facts talked about in the Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences chapter in Addiction Treatment.  The data in this study slightly contradicts the information described in the chapter.  The chapter talks about how substance use, like tobacco and alcohol, are seen to be higher in those of the homosexual orientation, while the study has inconclusive results as to if sexual orientation has an effect.  The difference of information could be due to the age range of the information in the book and the study.  Ages 15 to 24 were focused on in the study, while the book focuses more on the adult population.  These differences in age could be a major factor in the difference of content.  At a younger age sexual orientation may not have an effect on substance abuse for reasons such as there is not as much discrimination towards younger people who identify as homosexual, or people at that age range may still be figuring out what their sexual orientation is.  The older category looked at in the book may have been through more experiences of hatred or hard-times and so their orientation could have a major effect on their substance use.  This difference in information shows that more studies need to be conducted in order to determine the exact correlation between sexual orientation and substance use.



References

Brewster, K. L., & Tillman, K. (2012).  Sexual orientation and substance use among adolescents and young adults.  American Journal of Public Health, 102(6), 1168-1176.  doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300261

Wormer, K. S. V., & Davis, D. R. (2009). Addiction treatment, a strengths perspective. (2nd ed.). Brooks/Cole Pub Co.