Accordingly, research must take into account not only differences between men and women, but also differences among women (e.g., age, menstrual status). Furthermore, translational research bridging human and animal models has potential to rapidly advance our understanding of SUDs in women, and to disentangle the contributions of gender and sex (Chartoff & McHugh, 2016). However, much of the animal and human research occurs in isolation, where translation and back-translation remain understudied; the combination of the precision of animal https://ecosoberhouse.com/boston-sober-house-roxbury/ models with the public health relevance of clinical models is needed to better understand sex and gender differences in SUDs. Finally, improved understanding of sex and gender differences by substance type is needed, and polydrug use in women is particularly understudied. It is not well known the degree to which gender difference findings vary across substance types, although several findings indicate that there may be substantive differences (e.g,. presence of a telescoping course of illness for some, but not other, substances).
Substance Use Treatment
Of note, when analyses by sex have been conducted, women overall appear to have worse cocaine use outcomes than men in medication trials, although this pattern has generally not been seen with behavioral treatment studies. There is some evidence that women present to treatment more quickly after substance use initiation and disorder onset (see above; Alvanzo et al., 2014; Blanco et al., 2013; Lewis & Nixon, 2014). Among adolescents with alcohol use disorder, girls are more likely to receive treatment than boys (Haughwout, alcoohol is better than drugs Harford, Castle, & Grant, 2016). Nevertheless, population-based and treatment admission data suggest that many women with SUDs do not receive treatment. In 2015, of the estimated 7.9 million women in the U.S. who needed treatment for an alcohol or drug use disorder, only 10.4% received treatment, compared to 11.1% of men (CBHSQ, 2016). Treatment underutilization is particularly notable among adult women with alcohol use disorder (Alvanzo et al., 2014; Cohen, Feinn, Arias, & Kranzler, 2007; Khan, Okuda, et al., 2013).
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However, this has not been demonstrated for all substances (e.g., heroin; Lewis et al., 2014; Stoltman, Woodcock, Lister, Greenwald, & Lundahl, 2015), and one large, population-based analysis examining alcohol use trajectories failed to replicate the telescoping effect (Keyes et al., 2010). This discrepancy may reflect cohort differences, with some evidence that telescoping is not evident in younger cohorts (P. B. Johnson, Richter, Kleber, McLellan, & Carise, 2005); however, other studies have not found evidence for the telescoping effect across cohorts (Keyes et al., 2010). A previous review posited that equivocal findings might be explained by differences in study population (Becker, McClellan, & Reed, 2017). Specifically, the telescoping effect has primarily been identified among women who are already in treatment, and likely represent those with more severe SUDs, whereas population-based surveys have failed to replicate the telescoping effect. Thus, this effect might be present only among women who are vulnerable to more severe SUDs, with mitigation of this effect when simultaneously examining women who represent the wide range of substance use severity.
Topical Collection on Gender & Addiction
WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders provides a comprehensive update based on 2019 data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide. The report shows an estimated 400 million people lived with alcohol use disorders globally. Psychologically speaking, women are more likely than men to have co-occurring substance use and mental health conditions.
- Research has shown that sexual partners exert a disproportionate influence over their female partners.
- The differences in women drug addiction and male addiction may not seem significant at first glance, but the way the effects vary runs deep.
- Heritability of SUD has been previously described [60] through family, adoption, and twin studies.
- Decreases in past-month tobacco use have been particularly rapid among adolescents, with 4.9% of girls reporting past-month tobacco use in 2015, compared to 10.7% in 2007 (CBHSQ, 2016).
- For many patients in drug addiction recovery, gender-specific treatment programs provide a respite from the social stressors of everyday life.
Drug Use by Income Levels
- Although existing research has mixed findings on sex and gender differences in overall outcomes, there are more consistent findings suggesting different mechanisms of behavior change among men and women in AUD treatment and long-term recovery.
- Neuroimaging studies find that there is a sex difference in the upregulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) following acute abstinence from nicotine, providing a neurochemical explanation for why men have a preferential response to NRT.
- Additionally, rates of suicide are almost four times greater for men than for women, although substances are commonly found in both males and females who complete suicide.
- APA groups the abuse of all stimulants in one category, but it does differentiate prevalence rates between cocaine abuse and non-cocaine-related stimulant abuse.
