Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Israel Journal of Health Policy Research
Published in: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Original research article

Differences in substance use by sexual orientation and gender among Jewish young adults in Israel

Authors: Hagit Bonny-Noach, Mally Shechory-Bitton

Published in: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research | Issue 1/2020

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

This study focuses on sexual orientation and gender-based differences among Israeli young adult substance use behaviors. In addition, it evaluates young adult perception of substance use and acceptance of substances use by close friends.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study. A self-reported anonymous questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of 496 young-adults (age: M = 23.14, SD = 2.48), which included 126 heterosexual males, 128 heterosexual females, 131 gay men, and 111 lesbians.

Results

This study revealed significant sexual orientation and gender differences in all outcomes examined. Significant substance usage differences were found for same-sex orientation as 52% reported cannabis use and 24% reported using other illegal substances during the past 12 months compared to 34 and 6% (respectively) among heterosexuals. Significant gender differences were found, as male participants reported 50% cannabis use and 19% reported other illegal substance use in the past 12 months compared to 35 and 11% (respectively) among females.
Additionally, compared with heterosexuals, gay men and lesbians perceived/assessed significantly higher substance usage rates among their close friends and higher levels of substance use acceptance by close friends. Regression models indicated the important role of respondent perceived and acceptance of substance use among close friends.
Binge drinking, cannabis use, and other illegal substance use were positively associated with participants’ perceived substance use and substance use acceptance level by close friends, after controlling for gender, sexual orientation, age, and level of education.

Conclusions

Close friends and community norms can play an important role in shaping substance usage among young adults, especially among gay men and lesbians. The results of the current study highlight the need for developing prevention and harm reduction drug policies for Israeli young adults, especially for gay men and lesbians. Interventions should also focus on young adult peers and community norms related to substance use by professionals in educational, policy-making, and therapeutic contexts.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
2.
Lea T, Reynolds R, Wit J. Alcohol and other drug use, club drug dependence and treatment seeking among lesbian, gay and bisexual young people in Sydney. Drug Alcohol Re. 2013;32(3):303–11.CrossRef
3.
Graham R, Berkowitz B, Blum R, Bockting W, Bradford J, de Vries B, et al. The health of lesbian, gay men, bisexual, and transgender people: Building a foundation for better understanding. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; 2011.
4.
Kerr DL, Ding K, Chaya J. Substance use of lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual college students. Am J Health Behav. 2014;38(6):951–62.PubMedCrossRef
5.
Marshal MP, Friedman MS, Stall R, Thompson AL. Individual trajectories of substance use in lesbian, gay and bisexual youth and heterosexual youth. Addiction. 2009;104(6):974–81.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
6.
Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Miech RA, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use: 1975–2013: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research; 2016.
7.
Korn L, Bonny-Noach H. Gender differences in delinquency and health risk behaviors among young-adults undergraduate students. Substance Use Misuse. 2017;53(1):59–69.PubMedCrossRef
8.
Mennis J, Mason MJ. Social and geographic contexts of adolescent substance use: the moderating effects of age and gender. Soc Network. 2012;34:150–7.
9.
McCabe SE, Hughes TL, Bostwick WB, West BT, Boyd CJ. Sexual orientation, substance use behaviors and substance dependence in the United States. Addiction. 2009;104(8):1333–45.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
10.
Talley AE, Hughes TL, Aranda F, Birkett M, Marshal MP. Exploring alcohol-use behaviors among heterosexual and sexual minority adolescents: intersections with sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Am J Public Health. 2014;104(2):295–303.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
11.
Baiocco R, D'Alessio M, Laghi F. Binge drinking among gay, and lesbian youths: the role of internalized sexual stigma, self-disclosure, and individuals’ sense of connectedness to the gay community. Addict Behav. 2010;35(10):896–9.PubMedCrossRef
12.
Bruce D, Ramirez-Valles J, Campbell RT. Stigmatization, substance use, and sexual risk behavior among Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender persons. J Drug Issues. 2008;38(1):235–60.CrossRef
13.
Heck NC, Livingston NA, Flentje A, Oost K, Stewart BT, Cochran BN. Reducing risk for illicit drug use and prescription drug misuse: high school gay-straight alliances and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Addict Behav. 2014;39(4):824–8.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
14.
Hughes TL, Eliason M. Substance use and abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations. J Prim Prev. 2002;22(3):263–98.CrossRef
15.
Southgate E, Hopwood M. The role of folk pharmacology and lay experts in harm reduction: Sydney gay drug using networks. Int J Drug Policy. 2001;12:321–35.CrossRef
16.
Hagman BT, Kuerbis AN, Morgenstern J, Bux DA, Parsons JT, Heidinger BE. An item response theory (IRT) analysis of the short inventory of problems alcohol and drugs (SIP-AD) among non-treatment seeking men-who-have-sex with-men: evidence for a shortened 10-item SIP-AD. Addic Behav. 2010;34:948–54.CrossRef
17.
Harawa NT, Williams JK, Ramamurthi HC, Manago C, Avina S, Jones M. Sexual behavior, sexual identity, and substance abuse among low income bisexual and non-gay men-identifying African American men who have sex with men. Arch Sex Behav. 2008;37:748–62.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
18.
Bourne A, Reid D, Hickson F, Torres-Rueda S, Steinberg P. Weatherbur, P. “Chemsex” and harm reduction need among gay men in South London. Int. J. Drug Policy. 2015;26(12):1171–6.CrossRef
19.
Trouiller P, Velter A, Saboni L, Sommen C, Sauvage C, Vaux S, et al. Injecting drug use during sex (known as “slamming”) among men who have sex with men: results from a time-location sampling survey conducted in five cities, France. Int J Drug Policy. 2020;79:102703.PubMedCrossRef
20.
Mor Z, Davidovich U. Same-sex sexual attraction, behavior, and practices of Jewish men in Israel and the association with HIV prevalence. AIDS Care. 2016;28(1):64–7.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
21.
Atias D, Levine H, Elinav H, Haouzi-Bashan M, Lior Y, Mor Z. Community Vs. hospital HIV testing sites in Jerusalem, Israel-who’s tested and who’s at risk? Israel J Health Policy Res. 2020;9:1–7.CrossRef
22.
Oetting ER, Lynch RS. Peers and the prevention of adolescent drug use. In: Sloboda Z, Bukoski WJ, editors. Handbook of drug abuse prevention: Theory, science, and practice. New York, NY: Springer; 2006. p. 101–27.CrossRef
23.
Varga S, Piko BF. Being lonely or using substances with friends? A cross-sectional study of Hungarian adolescents’ health risk behaviours. BMC Public Health. 2015;15(1):1107.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
24.
Oetting ER, Donnermeyer JF. Primary socialization theory: the etiology of drug use and deviance. Substance Use Misuse. 1998;33:995–1026.PubMedCrossRef
25.
Light JM, Greenan CC, Rusby JC, Nies KM, Snijders TAB. Onset to first alcohol use in early adolescence: a network diffusion model. J Res Adolescence. 2013;23:487–99.CrossRef
26.
Mathys C, Burk WJ, Cillessen AHN. Popularity as a moderator of peer selection and socialization of adolescent alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use. J Res Adolescence. 2013;23:513–23.CrossRef
27.
Mercken L, Steglich C, Knibbe R, de Vries H. Dynamics of friendship networks and alcohol use in early and mid-adolescence. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2012;73:99–110.PubMedCrossRef
28.
Huisman C. Does it matter what friends think, say, or do? The role of friends’ smoking attitudes and behavior for Dutch adolescents’ smoking behavior. Substance Use Misuse. 2014;49:715–23.PubMedCrossRef
29.
Poulin F, Kiesner J, Pedersen S, Dishion TJ. A short-term longitudinal analysis of friendship selection on early adolescent substance use. J Adolescence. 2011;34:249–56.CrossRef
30.
Perkins HW. Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts. J Stud Alcohol. 2002;14:164–72.CrossRef
31.
Ramchand R, Fisher MP, Griffin BA, Becker K, Iguchi MY. Drug use among gay and bisexual men at weekend dance parties: the role of intentions and perceptions of peers’ behaviors. AIDS Behav. 2013;17(4):1540–9.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
32.
Ezrachi Y, Harel-Fisch Y, Dayan Y, Rosiner I. Psychoactive drug use among the adult population in Israel- National epidemiological survey. Jerusalem: Israel anti-drug authority; 2017.
33.
Bonny-Noach H, Mell H. A drug treatment program for young Israeli military veterans. Textbook of Addiction Treatment: International Perspectives. Milan Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London; Springer; 2015; p. 2005-2011.
34.
35.
Bonny-Noach H, Sagiv-Alayoff M. Rescuing Israeli travelers: effects of substance abuse, mental health, geographic region of rescue, gender and age of rescuees. J Travel Med. 2017;24(5):1–6.CrossRef
36.
Shechory M, Ziv R. Gender-roles attitudes and role divisions according to sexual orientation. In: Urlich JH, Cosell BT, editors. Handbook on Gender Roles: Conflicts, Attitudes an Behaviors. N.Y: Nova Science Publishers; 2009. p. 271–82.
37.
Shilo G, Savaya R. Effects of social support, undermining and acceptance on mental health and sexual orientation milestones of LGB youth. Fam Relat. 2011;60:318–30.CrossRef
38.
Eick U, Rubinstein T, Hertz S, Slater A. Changing attitudes of high school students in Israel toward homosexuality. J LGBT Youth. 2016;13(1–2):192–206.CrossRef
39.
Shilo G, Pizmony-Levy O. IDF climate survey 2011—research report. Tel Aviv: Israeli Gay Youth Organization (Hebrew); 2011.
40.
Shilo G, Antebi N, Mor Z. Individual and community resilience factors among lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and questioning youth and adults in Israel. AM J Commun Psychol. 2015;55(1–2):215–27.CrossRef
41.
Kecojevic A, Jun HJ, Reisner SL, Corliss HL. Concurrent polysubstance use in a longitudinal study of US youth: associations with sexual orientation. Addiction. 2017;112(4):614–24.PubMedCrossRef
42.
Roxburgh A, Lea T, de Wit J, Degenhardt L. Sexual identity and prevalence of alcohol and other drug use among Australians in the general population. Int J Drug Policy. 2016;28:76–82.PubMedCrossRef
43.
Schmidt AJ, Bourne A, Weatherburn P, Reid D, Marcus U, Hickson F, Network TE. Illicit drug use among gay and bisexual men in 44 cities: findings from the European MSM internet survey (EMIS). Int J Drug Policy. 2016;38:4–12.PubMedCrossRef
44.
Shilo G, Mor Z. The impact of minority stressors on the mental and physical health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths and young adults. Health Soc Work. 2014;39(3):161–71.PubMedCrossRef
45.
Ezrahi I, Roziner A, Nirel R, Bar-Hamberger R. The use of psychoactive substances: Epidemiological Study VII. Jerusalem: Israel anti-drug authority; 2009.
46.
Peduzzi P, Concato J, Kemper E, Holford TR, Feinstein AR. A simulation study of the number of events per variable in logistic regression analysis. J Clin Epidemiol. 1996;49:1373–9.
47.
Hughes TL, Wilsnack SC, Kantor LW. The influence of gender and sexual orientation on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems: toward a global perspective. Alcohol Res Curr Rev. 2016;38(1):121.
48.
Kuntsche S, Knibbe RA, Kuntsche E, Gmel G. Housewife or working mum—each to her own? The relevance of societal factors in the association between social roles and alcohol use among mothers in 16 industrialized countries. Addiction. 2011;106(11):1925–32.
49.
50.
Berkovitch, N, Manor S. Narratives of Israeli Women in Retirement: Rewriting the Gender Contract. Sex Roles. 2018. p. 1-18.
51.
52.
Sasson-Levy O. Research on Gender and the Military in Israel: From a Gendered Organization to Inequality Regimes. ISR Stud Rev. 2011;26(2):73-98.
53.
Sasson-Levy O. Feminism and military gender practices: Israeli women soldiers in “masculine” roles. Sociol Inq. 2003;73(3):440-65.
54.
Hughes TL, Wilsnack SC. Use of alcohol among lesbians: Research and clinical implications. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1997;67(1):20.
55.
Bonny-Noach H. Harm reduction drug policy in Israel: what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done?. Israel J Health Policy Res. 2019;8(1):1-9.
Metadata
Title
Differences in substance use by sexual orientation and gender among Jewish young adults in Israel
Authors
Hagit Bonny-Noach
Mally Shechory-Bitton
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Israel Journal of Health Policy Research / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 2045-4015
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-020-00410-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2020

Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 1/2020 Go to the issue

Correction

Correction to: Hair loss due to scalp ringworm irradiation in childhood: health and psychosocial risks for women

Original research article

Socio-economic disparities and returning to work following an injury

Original research article

Robotic vs. open surgery in obese women with low-grade endometrial cancer: comparison of costs and quality of life measures

Original research article

Physicians’ adherence to management guidelines for H. pylori infection and gastroesophageal reflux disease: a cross-sectional study

Original research article

Temporal trends in healthcare resource utilization and costs following acute myocardial infarction

Original research article

Are Israelis becoming healthier? Trends in self-rated health, 2002–2018