@article{ref1,
title="Are alcohol-related disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth decreasing?",
journal="Addiction",
year="2017",
author="Saewyc, Elizabeth M. and Russell, Stephen T. and Porta, Carolyn M. and Watson, Ryan J. and Fish, Jessica N.",
volume="112",
number="11",
pages="1931-1941",
abstract="BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although sexual orientation-related alcohol use disparities are well established, researchers have not identified whether disparities are diminishing as societal attitudes towards lesbian/gay and bisexual (LGB) people become more accepting. We examined changes in four alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth from 1998 to 2013 by (1) estimating the prevalence of these behaviors; (2) estimating disparities in alcohol-related outcomes between heterosexual and LGB youth within each wave year; and (3) testing whether the degree of difference in alcohol-related disparities between heterosexual and LGB youth has changed. <br><br>DESIGN: Logistic regression models and year × sexual orientation interactions with repeated, cross-sectional, provincially representative data. SETTING: British Columbia, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Students (ages 12-19) from the 1998 (n = 22 858), 2003 (n = 29 323), 2008 (n = 25 254) and 2013 (n = 21 938) British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (total n = 99 373, 48.7% male, mean age = 14.84). MEASUREMENTS: We modeled age-adjusted differences in life-time alcohol use, age of onset, past 30-day drinking and past 30-day heavy episodic drinking between heterosexual and three subgroups of sexual minority youth (i.e. mostly heterosexual, bisexual and lesbian/gay). <br><br>FINDINGS: Generally, alcohol use declined for all youth, although less so among LGB youth [average adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.58 and aOR = 0.53 for heterosexual males and females and aOR = 0.71 and aOR = 0.57 for sexual minority males and females, respectively). Within-year comparisons demonstrated elevated rates of alcohol use among LGB compared with heterosexual youth for each of the four survey years, especially among females. <br><br>FINDINGS indicate few changes over time; however, results show an increase in risky alcohol use from 1998 to 2013 among mostly heterosexual (aOR = 1.58 for life-time alcohol use, aOR = 1.58 for 30-day alcohol use and aOR = 1.34 for 30-day heavy episodic drinking), and bisexual (aOR = 1.95 for life-time alcohol use) females. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Despite the general decline in the prevalence of alcohol use among young people in Canada since 1998, lesbian/gay and bisexual youth in Canada continue to show elevated rates of alcohol use compared with heterosexual youth.<br><br>© 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.13896",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.13896"
}