Drug use: Attitudes and Behaviors

By: Garrett Sommer

Introduction
The intended purpose of this research paper is to provide insight on how an individuals
sex affects their perception and attitudes towards drug use and behaviors. Research on this topic
can benefit our understanding of drug use in society. The type of research that will be used is an
analysis of the General Social Survey (2010) to explore how sex relates to opinions on marijuana
legalization, frequency of going to bars, and crack use.

Literature Review

Marijuana and its relationship to gender

Legalization of marijuana is becoming very prevalent in todays society. It seems almost
as if you cannot turn on the news without hearing about it. Since it is a hot topic, it is essential to
know what social groups are advocating for legalization, and those who are not. But, who are
these groups? What gender is advocating more for legalization? Why do certain groups feel the
way they do about legalization? The article: Risk Perception Related To (Il)Licit Substance Use
And Attitudes Towards Its' Use And Legalization The Role Of Age, Gender And Substance Use,
provides valuable insight on the questions stated above.
Within the study, researchers used face-to-face interviews using paper-pencil
format questionnaire (Marii 585). The questionnaire used close ended questions on 4756
individuals in order to yield a high response rate. From the data they collected it was apparent
that females were less favorable than males towards marijuana legalization. Building off this,
the study provided possible reasons as to why gender played its role on attitudes towards
legalization. One possible reason as to why this was occurring is risk perception. The article

talks highly about risks associated with substances such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other
drugs. When the data was analyzed, the study concluded that statistically, females had a greater
estimation of risk with substance use (587). A possible reason for this was that traditional
social roles and more conforming behavior (592), played its role as well as cultural
"acceptance" of males consuming substances more than females (592). This provides valuable
insight on gender in association with drugs and behavior.
Continuing to look deeper at gender and marijuana legalization, the article: The Trouble
With Mary Janes Gender provides the reader with insight on politics, the stoner stereotype, and
how women are portrayed in marijuana culture. One of the first topics discussed in the article is
titled Hot Pot Babes (Chapkis 75). This section talks about how marijuana is still a guy
thing and that mens voices dominate in drug reform conversations (75). It is important to
acknowledge that males head the political movements for legalization of marijuana. The
legalization movement and marijuana media is deeply sexist (75). One case within the article
deeply highlights the sexism in marijuana media. The author states High Times, which now has
a circulation of over 200,000 (mostly young male) readers, continues to run photographs and
advertisements featuring naked young women (75). The pictures that are provided as examples
of sexualizing marijuana with women in the article bring about a stereotypical portrayal of
women. In association with this, the researcher begins to talk about the stoner stereotype. The
media highlights what the researcher calls a slacker stoner (81) and describes the stereotype as
an unmotivated underemployed white guy moving in on middle age but holding tight to an
arrested adolescence (81). This media portrayal highlights males more than females and the
researcher deems the stoner culture to be particularly gender specific (82). When addressing
why the culture is gender specific, the article stated The slackers refusal to work hard and

assume adult responsibilities doesnt function quite the same way for people of color and
women who are already saddled with a stereotype of dependency (81).
Politically, the male dominated marijuana legalization movement does not make sense.
Of course it is advocating for legalization and a few states have passed legalization, but the
campaign could be far more efficient as the article points out. In the section entitled: Gender
and an End to the War on Drugs (84), the researcher makes a valid claim that While smoking
pot may culturally be a guy thing, voting increasingly is a girl thing (84). Statistically
speaking, the author gives specific examples of how women are outvoting men in todays
society. Since smoking marijuana has a stereotypical image associated with it, the campaign can
be much more effective if that image were to change. The majority of people that vote are
women, and marijuana is gendered male. At last, the author makes a conclusion that In order to
get the backing of the ladies, a more gender-conscious drug policy reform movement is
necessary. To this end, it would help to have more women in leadership positions (85).

Drug use and behaviors between males and females the attend bars/clubs frequently
Another avenue worth taking a look at when looking at genders association with drug
use and behaviors is taking a look at engagement of drug use in bars/clubs. When looking at the
bar/club scene, the article: Prevalence and Predictors of Club Drug Use among Club-Going
Young Adults in New York City gives the reader valuable information as to who is taking what
substance in a bar/club environment. In this study, researchers gathered data from a survey they
handed out to 1,914 club-going young adults (ages 1829) who provided data on their use of six
key club drugs: ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine, methamphetamine, GHB, and LSD, as well as data
on their gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and other demographic variables (Kelley).

The researcher highlights that Cultural bases of masculinity and femininity can profoundly
influence the manner in which individuals practice their daily lives and engage in risk behaviors
(Kelley). From their findings, 70% of the club-going young adults had ever used any illicit
drug (Kelley). From this, the researchers ran the data on who is more likely to use certain
drugs. The assumption would be that males were statistically significant in the sense that they
used more than females. By looking at their data, this was the case for all but one illicit
substance. Females were actually statistically significant at the .05 level for cocaine use. This
means that more females have tried cocaine more than males in the study.
Another study that sought to gain more insight on the club scene was: The Influence of
Age and Gender on Party Drug Use Among Young Adults Attending Dance Events, Clubs, and
Rock Festivals in Belgium. This study differentiates from the one above because it seeks to
analyze a similar environment, but outside of the United States. When collecting data, the
researchers also used a survey. In this scenario, the researchers attended the events in which they
collected data, and the article reports on findings among the remaining 670 respondents
(Havere 1901) that were not sorted out by a reliability test. From their data, the researchers
found that Significantly, more men than women drink alcohol before and after going out
(1905). Another intriguing finding within the data was that The differences in frequency and
number of users are declining (1909). The author states that this may mean that women are
catching up with men with regard to alcohol use and illicit drug use (1909). While discussing
this closing gap in gender differences regarding frequency of going out, the author states that this
is because as women started to work outside the home, they have gradually adopted male values
and behavior patterns, and their freedom as individual consumers has increased (1910). This is
a valid point stated by the author and is apparent to see. Society has changed a lot in the past 70

years; women have gained access to vote, many women are getting jobs outside the home, and
women have the ability to hold public office. So as can see from the closing gap in drug
behavioral patterns, women are taking risks that they did not use to take because society is
making it more acceptable.

Gender and crack cocaine

Discussing an early article, it was found that women were more likely to try cocaine than
men. The article entitled: Characteristics of Rural Crack and Powder Cocaine Use: Gender and
Other Correlates allows further insight on gender related to cocaine. This article also brings to
light that females are engaging in crack cocaine more than males. But an interesting topic
brought up in this article is that women are also reporting higher rates of dependence on crack
cocaine. To be more specific, the article states that female crack users used crack more
frequently than males in the past 30 days and in the past 6 months and reported greater cocaine
abuse/dependence (Pope 493). In sense, these women users are not just trying the drug, but
they are using it more frequent and depending on this drug.

Gaps in the Literature

Reviewing the literature, it is apparent that the articles provide valid data on who is using
what, the closing gap between gender and drug use, drug politics and gender, and how society
plays its role on gender and drug use. Although the articles provided some insight on frequency,
it was unclear if frequency played its role in users engaging in drug use. From the articles it is
apparent that males go out more and also have a higher rate of drug use; however there is no data
revealing that the two have an effect on the other. Women are also going out more and closing

the gender gap in drug use, but women also already have higher rates of crack cocaine
dependence and cocaine use. Does this closing gap mean that frequency is related to higher drug
use or more favorable views to legalization? What about age and education? Does age and
education also play a role in frequency? These studies have not found if higher rates of going
out cause higher participation in drug use or more favorable views on drug legalization. By
running data on certain variables, I hypothesize the following:
H1: People that are more favorable of marijuana legalization tend to frequent bars more
H2: Gender is related to the amount of times a person frequents the bar
H3: Education and Age are related to the amount of times a person frequents the bar
H4: Crack use and bar frequency are related

Proposed Research Design

Using the GSS 2010 data we will test the above hypotheses to fill gaps in the literature
and gain more insight on gender, drug use, and behaviors. The GSS 2010 was a distributed
survey in which 2044 people took. This survey is distributed in person, nationally representative,
and has a high response rate.
Firstly, the variables must be looked at in order to understand them fully. Regarding the
variable Sex, respondents were asked to select their gender and the choices were male and
female. Looking at the second variable evcrack, respondents were asked if they ever used
crack cocaine in chunk or rock form and their choices were: yes, no, dont know, and refused.
The third variable being tested is Grass. Grass asked respondents if they thought the use of
marijuana should be made legal or not; and the choices were stated: should, should not, no
opinion, dont know, and refused. In the regression analysis listed below the test will be using

the variables: educ and age. Using the GSS to determine how respondents were asked
regarding educ and age, they were asked how many years of education they have completed
and what their age was. The last variable that will be tested is socbar. Socbar asked
respondents how often they went to a bar or tavern. The choices for Socbar were: almost
every day, once or twice a week, several times a month, about once a month, several times a
year, about once a year, never, dont know, and refused.
Testing our first hypothesis we will use chi-square when looking at the dependent
variable socbarnew (a reverse recode of socbar), and the independent variable grass. Chisquare will be used because socbarnew is ordinal and grass is nominal. The next hypothesis
that will be tested is if gender is related to the amount of times a person frequents the bar. Again,
chi-square will be used on the dependent variable socbarnew, and the independent variable
sex. Testing the third hypothesis, it is necessary to run a multivariate linear regression. The
dependent variable used is socbarnew. Socbarnew is a reverse recoded version of socbar
in order to make the output less confusing. As for the independent variables, the test is using the
continuous variable educ and the continuous variable age.
Results
Univariate Analysis Tables
Count
(1) Males - 891
(2) Females - 1153

Valid Percent
43.6%
56.4%

Count
(1) Legal - 603
(2) Not legal - 656
Count
(1) Yes 115
(2) No - 1710

Valid Percent
47.9%
52.1%

Valid Percent
6.3%
93.7%

Sex
Mean
1.56

Median
2.00

Mode
2

Grass
Mean
1.52

Median
2.00 (Not Legal)

Mode
2 (Not Legal)

Median
2.00 (No)

Mode
2 (No)

Evcrack
Mean
1.94

Valid
1426

Missing
618

Valid
2039

Missing
5

Valid
2041

Missing
3

Socbarnew
Mean
2.4635
Educ
Mean
13.46
Age
Mean
47.97

Median
2

Mode
1

Median
13

Mode
12

Median
47.00

Mode
25

Taking in account the above table, each variable is split into its own section. Since there
werent many responses in the nominal variables (Sex, Grass, Evcrack), all possible responses
were given at their percent at which they were chosen. Looking at the first nominal variable
(Sex), it is understood that the study consisted of more females (56.4%) than males (43.6%).
Value labels were assigned in which 1 was coded for males and 2 was coded for females. The
median and mode both were found to be 2; which means that the middle most case was female
and the most frequently occurring choice was female. Providing further insight on the second
nominal variable (Grass), respondents were more likely to state that marijuana should not be
legal (52.1%) than those that thought marijuana should be legal (47.9%). The choice Legal
had value label 1, while the choice Not legal had the value label 2. Further analyzing the
variable, the median was 2 and so was the mode. Not legal when associated with legalizing
marijuana was the most frequent and middle most option represented. Regarding the third
nominal variable evcrack, the choices were yes and no. The choice Yes represented value
label 1, which meant the respondent had used crack cocaine; and the choice No represented
value label 2, which meant the respondent had never used crack cocaine. Those that responded
that they had used crack cocaine represented 6.3% of the valid cases, while those that answered
no made up the remaining 93.7%. The median and mode both consisted of value label 2,

which meant the most frequent and middle most answer was those that had never used crack
cocaine.
Since the continuous/ordinal variables had a significantly large amount of answers, the
tables only included the valid cases, missing cases, mean, median, and mode. The variable
Socbarnew was reverse recoded in order to make clearer sense of the data. Value labels
originally were labeled from 1 (Almost daily) to 7 (Never). Reverse recoding the value labels
led to the high value label (7) being associated with the most frequent (Almost daily) option;
while the low value label (1) was associated with never going to the bar. Taking a deeper look at
the recoded variable, there were: 1426 valid cases, 618 missing, the median was 2 (Once a year),
and the mode was 1 (never). From the univariate analysis of this variable, it is understood that
the choice Never in association to bar frequency was the most frequently occurring answer and
the middle most score was Once a year. Moving on to the continuous variable educ, only 5
cases were missing, while 2039 cases were valid. The median was value label 13 and the mode
was value label 12. Both of these values labels represented their actual number of years of
education. So, in regards to value label 12 being the mode, 12 years of education was the most
frequently occurring; and value label 13 being the median, means that 13 years of education was
the middle most score. Lastly, the variable age consisted of a large amount of valid cases (2041),
leaving only 3 cases missing. Analyzing the variable further, the mode was 25, which meant that
25 years of age was the group with the most valid cases. Also, the median was 47 years of age.
Chi-Square Results

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Grass and Socbarnew

Legal
Not Legal
39.6%
61.1%
14.2%
9.1%
13.9%
9.1%
12.7%
8.3%

Totals
51.1%
11.5%
11.4%
10.3%

(5)
(6)
(7)

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)

11.8%
6.5%
1.2%

7.5%
19.8%
0.5%

Sex and Socbarnew

Male
Female
41.4%
50.9%
11.0%
12.8%
12.4%
14.3%
12.7%
10.0%
11.5%
7.9%
9.4%
3.5%
1.6%
0.5%
Evcrack and Socbarnew
Yes
No
39.0%
45.2%
15.6%
12.4%
13.0%
13.9%
13.0%
11.6%
10.4%
9.8%
7.8%
6.0%
1.3%
1.0%

9.5%
5.3%
0.9%
Totals
46.8%
12.1%
13.5%
11.2%
9.5%
6.0%
1.0%
Totals
44.8%
12.6%
13.9%
11.7%
9.9%
6.1%
1.0%

Running the first chi-square test on the independent variable Grass and the dependent
variable Socbarnew, there is a significant association at the .05 level because the p-value was .
000 which is less than .05. Those that Never frequent the bar have a strong stance that
marijuana should not be legalized (61.1%). However, every other unit increase in bar frequency
after Never showed the majority in those groups to be in favor of marijuana legalization. But,
the majority of respondents to the question (51.1%) made up the Never group in bar frequency.
Together, marijuana legalization was opposed by the majority (373) to those that favored
marijuana legalization (323).
Taking a look at the second chi-square test on the independent variable Sex and the
dependent variable Socbarnew, there is also a significant association at the .05 level because
the p-value was .000 which is less than .05. From the data it is apparent that the majority of

females Never (50.9%) frequent the bar. Even on the next two value labels, once a year and
several times a year, females still make up the majority. However, every unit increase in bar
frequency after, males make up the majority. From the data, it is concluded that males frequent
the bar more than females. The total count of males that answered this question was 607, while
females made up 819 respondents.
Looking at the last chi-square output, the test was run on the dependent variable
socbarnew and the independent variable evcrack. With this chi-square, there is no
significant association at the .05 level because the p-value is .935. Looking at the table, 77 of the
respondents had tried crack cocaine, while 1192 respondents have not. As bar frequency
increased to the higher levels, those that tried crack cocaine had a higher in cell percent than
those that did not try crack cocaine. Both groups had a large percent in the Never bar
frequency category; however, those that had never tried crack cocaine (45.2%) had a larger
percent that those that have tried crack cocaine (39.0%).

Multivariate Linear Regression Results

Educ
Age

Educ Age and Socbarnew

B-Value
.084
-.027

Sig.
.000
.000

Analyzing the multivariate linear regression on the two independent variables (Educ and
Age) regarding the dependent variable (Socbarnew), it is recognizable that spuriousness is ruled
out. Both variables are significant at the .05 level because both p-values are .000. Taking a more
in depth look at the B-value of education, it is apparent that for every unit increase in education,
bar frequency increases by .084 units. So, an increase in education also causes an increase in bar

frequency. This is an important demographic finding in order to further our knowledge on

characteristics of individuals that attend bars more frequently. Moving on to the B-value of age,
it is apparent that for every unit increase in age, bar frequency decreases by .027 units. As
individuals grow older, they frequent the bar less. This can also provide more insight on
characteristics of those that frequent bars more.
Conclusions
From the literature it is apparent that there is a closing gap between gender and drug use.
Although previous studies gathered data on which gender appeared more at bars, the literature
failed to address if bar frequency led to more engagement in drug use. When taking a deeper
look into whether or not bar frequency played a role, the data presented interesting findings. The
first finding showed that increased bar frequency showed a more favorable stance on marijuana
legalization. Again, the data also showed that as bar frequency increased, males still
outnumbered females; while females still made up the majority of those that were not going out
as much. Running a chi-square on crack cocaine usage and bar frequency showed no significant
association. By running a multivariate linear regression, the output provided interesting
characteristics on those that frequent bars more. It is understood in the data that bar frequency
and education are positively related; while age and bar frequency are negatively related. By
analyzing the GSS 2010, the data can be useful to further research gender and bar frequency in
relation to engagement in drug use. By using an in-person survey to collect the data on the GSS
2010, it is crucial to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of this method. An advantage of
collecting data in-person is that there is a high response rate. However, the disadvantage of this
method is that there is a high social desirability bias.

For future purposes, it is clear that there needs to be more research on drug use and bar
frequency. From the literature, it is apparent that women are engaging in more risky behavior as
years pass. By studying gender and bar frequency in more depth, more data can be found in
order to make more findings on the culture. Drug use is apparent, and as marijuana becomes
legalized in more states it becomes more relevant. The impact of this change on society also
needs to be studied more. Studying the legalization movement can provide more information on
gender and its relation to the drug culture as women engage in more risky behavior.

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