Drug use and sexual orientation in a cohort study of U.S. youth

Illicit drug use appears to be more common in sexual minority compared to heterosexual youth. We compare past-year prevalence of drug use across sexual orientation and examine how involvement in gay community social events/venues associates with drug use among 9297 U.S. youths (mean age: 18.6 years; range: 16-23) in the 2003 follow-up of the Growing Up Today Study, an ongoing cohort study. After controlling for age, among females, mostly heterosexuals (MH) and lesbians/bisexuals (LB) were more likely than heterosexuals to report use of marijuana (MH: OR 4.1, CI 3.4, 5.0; LB: OR 4.1, CI 3.0, 5.7), cocaine (MH: OR 5.1, CI 3.7, 7.0; LB: OR 4.6, CI 2.7, 7.7), ecstasy (MH: OR 4.8, CI 3.3, 7.0; LB: OR 7.8, CI 4.8, 12.9), and crystal methamphetamine (MH: OR 5.6, CI 3.0, 10.5; LB: OR 10.5, CI 5.0, 21.9). Likewise, MH and gay/bisexual (GB) males were more likely than heterosexual males to report using marijuana (MH: OR 2.8, CI 2.0, 3.9; GB: OR 2.1, CI 1.3, 3.2), cocaine (MH: OR 3.0, CI 1.7, 5.3; GB: OR 1.7, CI 0.7, 2.8), ecstasy (MH: OR 4.1, CI 1.9, 8.8; GB: OR 5.0, CI 2.3, 11.1), and crystal methamphetamine (MH: OR 3.8, CI 1.4, 10.7; GB: OR 3.4, CI 1.0, 11.7). Within sexual minorities, past-year attendance at gay-related social events/venues was associated with increased risk of using drugs. Interventions targeting gay community social settings may be a useful strategy for reaching sexual minority youth at high risk for using drugs.