- Title
- Sex, drugs, and sensation seeking: understanding the sex difference in potential future drug use
- Creator
- Turner, Richard
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- According to the United Nations World Drug Report (2020), more people are using drugs than ever before, with drug use now a major contributor to the global burden of disease. Critically, on closer inspection of the drug-related data, men account for approximately 67% of drug use and 76% of fatal drug overdoses (World Drug Report, 2020). Alarmingly, research and practice in responding to drug use remains sex and gender blind (Greaves, 2020), a glaring shortfall of the global health equity agenda (Nuzzo, 2020). In response to this shortfall, the current thesis investigated social and psychological moderators and mediators of the gender difference in drug use, with a particular focus on young adults. The four preregistered studies in this thesis used quantitative survey methods, and sampled participants predominantly from the USA (Ns = 3,319). A key innovation of this thesis is that it used a novel and more sensitive measure of potential future drug use (PFDU), which assessed participants’ intent and willingness to use drugs in the future. Consistent with past research, all four studies in this thesis found that men reported higher PFDU than women across a range of drug types (e.g., marijuana, illicit party drugs, and the misuse of pharmaceuticals). In terms of moderators, all four studies found that the sex difference in PFDU was larger among people high in emotional volatility (e.g., recent distress and anxiety). The conditional effects from this analysis reveal that men were more likely than women to want to self-medicate with drugs when experiencing negative emotions. In addition, the sex difference in PFDU was larger among people who had a great opportunity to use drugs (e.g., access to drugs and disposable income). In terms of mediators, all four studies found that men’s higher impulsivity and sensation seeking tendencies independently explained their higher PFDU. Finally, all four studies of this thesis tested which variables may reduce PFDU in such a way that helps to close the sex disparity. Based on these analyses, future harm reduction and health promotion interventions should target young adults’ emotion regulation and stress management techniques, fostering greater mindful awareness of emotional states. Together, this thesis provides a clearer understanding of the social and psychological processes that influence the gender difference in PFDU. Importantly, these novel findings can help guide more tailored interventions aimed at reducing the drug burden as well as closing the sex disparity in drug use.
- Subject
- sex; gender; drug use; impulsivity; sensation seeking; health disparity
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1484984
- Identifier
- uon:51463
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Richard Turner
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 8 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 227 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |