Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, VA Western New York Healthcare System, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2022 May 10;57(3):292-321. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agac006.
Polysubstance use is a common, problematic behavior that increases risk of harm to self and others. Research suggests that rates may vary based on gender, sex and sexuality. Understanding the current state of this literature may inform prevention and treatment of polysubstance use, leading to reduced public health burden.
This review aimed to synthesize research on gender, sex and sexuality differences in polysubstance use in adults and adolescents.
A scoping review was conducted using all EBSCO databases, PubMed and Google Scholar to identify articles examining the effects of gender, sex and sexuality on polysubstance use. Polysubstance use was defined broadly as the use of any combination of substances over any time period and included licit (alcohol, tobacco) and illicit substances, concurrent and simultaneous use, from lifetime to daily use and use at any frequency. Studies were considered if they were published in peer-reviewed journals between January 1990 and October 2020 and were written in English. Publicly available data sources were also utilized to fully capture prevalence data that has not been published elsewhere.
Findings were mostly inconsistent and often conflicting. Only two findings were generally consistent: adult men were overall more likely to report polysubstance use than adult women, and sexual and gender minorities report more frequent polysubstance use than non-minorities.
Research has been unable to clearly elucidate differences in polysubstance use prevalence and patterns according to gender, sex and sexuality. Several recommendations are offered to advance future research and address limitations of current research.
多种物质滥用是一种常见且存在问题的行为，会增加对自身和他人造成伤害的风险。研究表明，这种行为的发生率可能因性别、性和性取向而异。了解该领域的最新研究进展可能有助于制定多种物质滥用的预防和治疗措施，从而减轻公共卫生负担。
本综述旨在综合分析成年人和青少年多种物质滥用中性别、性和性取向差异的研究。
采用 EBSCO 所有数据库、PubMed 和 Google Scholar 进行范围界定综述，以确定研究性别、性和性取向对多种物质滥用影响的文章。多种物质滥用被广泛定义为在任何时间段内使用任何组合的物质，包括合法（酒精、烟草）和非法物质，同时使用、连续使用、从终身使用到每日使用以及任何频率的使用。如果研究发表在同行评议期刊上，且在 1990 年 1 月至 2020 年 10 月期间用英文撰写，便被视为符合条件。还利用了公开可用的数据来源，以充分获取未在其他地方发表的流行率数据。
研究结果大多不一致，且经常相互矛盾。只有两个发现较为一致：成年男性总体上比成年女性更有可能报告多种物质滥用，性少数群体和性别少数群体比非少数群体更频繁地使用多种物质。
研究尚未能够根据性别、性和性取向明确阐明多种物质滥用流行率和模式的差异。提出了一些建议，以促进未来的研究并解决当前研究的局限性。
