Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, Northwestern University, United States.
Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, United States.
Addict Behav. 2021 Jul;118:106878. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106878. Epub 2021 Feb 22.
Sexual minority women (SMW) are at heightened risk for problematic cannabis use compared to heterosexual women. Social learning theory posits that characteristics of one's cannabis use companions influence problematic use. However, most research on cannabis use among sexual minorities has focused on minority stress and not social learning theory. As such, the current study tested whether characteristics of one's cannabis use companions (gender and sexual orientation) were associated with changes in problematic use among cisgender SMW and non-binary individuals assigned female at birth.
We utilized three waves of data (six-months between waves) from 321 cisgender SMW and sexual minority non-binary individuals assigned female at birth who participated in a larger study and reported using cannabis during at least one wave. We examined the prospective associations between using cannabis with five groups (SMW, sexual minority men, non-binary individuals, heterosexual women, and heterosexual men) and changes in problematic use six-months later. We also examined whether participant gender (cisgender woman vs. non-binary individual) moderated these associations.
Among cisgender SMW and sexual minority non-binary individuals, using cannabis with SMW and non-binary individuals, but not with sexual minority men, heterosexual men, or women, was associated with increases in problematic use six-months later. Gender did not moderate any associations between using cannabis with any group and problematic use.
Consistent with social learning theory, using cannabis with similar others was associated with increases in problematic use among cisgender SMW and sexual minority non-binary individuals. Future research should explore the mechanisms underlying these effects.
与异性女性相比，性少数女性（SMW）存在更高的问题性大麻使用风险。社会学习理论认为，一个人的大麻使用同伴的特征会影响到问题性使用。然而，大多数关于性少数群体大麻使用的研究都集中在少数群体压力上，而不是社会学习理论。因此，本研究测试了一个人的大麻使用同伴（性别和性取向）的特征是否与顺性别 SMW 和出生时被指定为女性的非二元个体的问题性使用变化有关。
我们利用了 321 名顺性别 SMW 和出生时被指定为女性的性少数非二元个体的三波数据（每波之间相隔六个月），他们参加了一项更大的研究，并在至少一波中报告了大麻的使用情况。我们考察了在六个半月后，与五个群体（SMW、性少数男性、非二元个体、异性恋女性和异性恋男性）一起使用大麻与问题性使用变化之间的前瞻性关联。我们还考察了参与者的性别（顺性别女性与非二元个体）是否调节了这些关联。
在顺性别 SMW 和性少数非二元个体中，与 SMW 和非二元个体一起使用大麻与六个月后问题性使用的增加有关，但与性少数男性、异性恋男性或女性一起使用大麻则无关。性别并没有调节与任何群体一起使用大麻与问题性使用之间的任何关联。
与社会学习理论一致，与相似的人一起使用大麻与顺性别 SMW 和性少数非二元个体中问题性使用的增加有关。未来的研究应该探索这些影响背后的机制。
