Adherence to Gender-Typical Behavior and High Frequency Substance Use from Adolescence into Young Adulthood

Andra Wilkinson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Paul J. Fleming, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Objectives: Explore cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between adherence to gender-typical behavior and high frequency substance use from adolescence into adulthood. Method: Using data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we created an eight-category measure of all substance use patterns (dependent variable) and a percentile rank measure of males’ and females’ adherence to gender-typical behavior (independent variable). Multinomial logistic regression models were used with lagged dependent variables. Results: Within waves, adherence to male-typical behavior is associated with greater risk of high frequency substance use for males and adherence to female-typical behaviors is associated with lower risk of substance use for females. Longitudinally, gender-typical behavior at previous waves is still predictive of increased risk of high frequency substance use for males but not females. Conclusions: The relationship between adherence to gender-typical behavior and high frequency substance use is positive for males and negative for females.