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Are alcohol-related disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth decreasing?
Addiction. 2017 Nov; 112(11):1931-1941.A

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Although sexual orientation-related alcohol use disparities are well established, researchers have not identified whether disparities are diminishing as societal attitudes towards lesbian/gay and bisexual (LGB) people become more accepting. We examined changes in four alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth from 1998 to 2013 by (1) estimating the prevalence of these behaviors; (2) estimating disparities in alcohol-related outcomes between heterosexual and LGB youth within each wave year; and (3) testing whether the degree of difference in alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth has changed.

DESIGN

Logistic regression models and year × sexual orientation interactions with repeated, cross-sectional, provincially representative data.

SETTING

British Columbia, Canada.

PARTICIPANTS

Students (ages 12-19) from the 1998 (n = 22 858), 2003 (n = 29 323), 2008 (n = 25 254) and 2013 (n = 21 938) British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (total n = 99 373, 48.7% male, mean age = 14.84).

MEASUREMENTS

We modeled age-adjusted differences in life-time alcohol use, age of onset, past 30-day drinking and past 30-day heavy episodic drinking between heterosexual and three subgroups of sexual minority youth (i.e. mostly heterosexual, bisexual and lesbian/gay).

FINDINGS

Generally, alcohol use declined for all youth, although less so among LGB youth [average adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.58 and aOR = 0.53 for heterosexual males and females and aOR = 0.71 and aOR = 0.57 for sexual minority males and females, respectively). Within-year comparisons demonstrated elevated rates of alcohol use among LGB compared with heterosexual youth for each of the four survey years, especially among females. Findings indicate few changes over time; however, results show an increase in risky alcohol use from 1998 to 2013 among mostly heterosexual (aOR = 1.58 for life-time alcohol use, aOR = 1.58 for 30-day alcohol use and aOR = 1.34 for 30-day heavy episodic drinking), and bisexual (aOR = 1.95 for life-time alcohol use) females.

CONCLUSION

Despite the general decline in the prevalence of alcohol use among young people in Canada since 1998, lesbian/gay and bisexual youth in Canada continue to show elevated rates of alcohol use compared with heterosexual youth.

Links

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Fish JN
Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA.
Watson RJ
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut, CT, USA.
Porta CM
School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Russell ST
Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Saewyc EM
School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

MeSH

AdolescentBinge DrinkingBisexualityBritish ColumbiaChildCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHealth Status DisparitiesHeterosexualityHomosexualityHumansLogistic ModelsMaleOdds RatioPrevalenceSexual and Gender MinoritiesStudentsSurveys and QuestionnairesUnderage DrinkingYoung Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

28678415

Citation

Fish, Jessica N., et al. "Are Alcohol-related Disparities Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Youth Decreasing?" Addiction (Abingdon, England), vol. 112, no. 11, 2017, pp. 1931-1941.
Fish JN, Watson RJ, Porta CM, et al. Are alcohol-related disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth decreasing? Addiction. 2017;112(11):1931-1941.
Fish, J. N., Watson, R. J., Porta, C. M., Russell, S. T., & Saewyc, E. M. (2017). Are alcohol-related disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth decreasing? Addiction (Abingdon, England), 112(11), 1931-1941. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13896
Fish JN, et al. Are Alcohol-related Disparities Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Youth Decreasing. Addiction. 2017;112(11):1931-1941. PubMed PMID: 28678415.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Are alcohol-related disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth decreasing? AU - Fish,Jessica N, AU - Watson,Ryan J, AU - Porta,Carolyn M, AU - Russell,Stephen T, AU - Saewyc,Elizabeth M, Y1 - 2017/07/05/ PY - 2016/10/04/received PY - 2017/01/26/revised PY - 2017/05/26/accepted PY - 2017/7/6/pubmed PY - 2018/6/13/medline PY - 2017/7/6/entrez KW - Adolescents KW - LGB KW - alcohol KW - disparities KW - school health surveys KW - sexual minority SP - 1931 EP - 1941 JF - Addiction (Abingdon, England) JO - Addiction VL - 112 IS - 11 N2 - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although sexual orientation-related alcohol use disparities are well established, researchers have not identified whether disparities are diminishing as societal attitudes towards lesbian/gay and bisexual (LGB) people become more accepting. We examined changes in four alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth from 1998 to 2013 by (1) estimating the prevalence of these behaviors; (2) estimating disparities in alcohol-related outcomes between heterosexual and LGB youth within each wave year; and (3) testing whether the degree of difference in alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth has changed. DESIGN: Logistic regression models and year × sexual orientation interactions with repeated, cross-sectional, provincially representative data. SETTING: British Columbia, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Students (ages 12-19) from the 1998 (n = 22 858), 2003 (n = 29 323), 2008 (n = 25 254) and 2013 (n = 21 938) British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (total n = 99 373, 48.7% male, mean age = 14.84). MEASUREMENTS: We modeled age-adjusted differences in life-time alcohol use, age of onset, past 30-day drinking and past 30-day heavy episodic drinking between heterosexual and three subgroups of sexual minority youth (i.e. mostly heterosexual, bisexual and lesbian/gay). FINDINGS: Generally, alcohol use declined for all youth, although less so among LGB youth [average adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.58 and aOR = 0.53 for heterosexual males and females and aOR = 0.71 and aOR = 0.57 for sexual minority males and females, respectively). Within-year comparisons demonstrated elevated rates of alcohol use among LGB compared with heterosexual youth for each of the four survey years, especially among females. Findings indicate few changes over time; however, results show an increase in risky alcohol use from 1998 to 2013 among mostly heterosexual (aOR = 1.58 for life-time alcohol use, aOR = 1.58 for 30-day alcohol use and aOR = 1.34 for 30-day heavy episodic drinking), and bisexual (aOR = 1.95 for life-time alcohol use) females. CONCLUSION: Despite the general decline in the prevalence of alcohol use among young people in Canada since 1998, lesbian/gay and bisexual youth in Canada continue to show elevated rates of alcohol use compared with heterosexual youth. SN - 1360-0443 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/28678415/Are_alcohol_related_disparities_between_sexual_minority_and_heterosexual_youth_decreasing DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -