Drug use in separated/divorced persons: Gender, parental status, and socio-economic status

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore drug use in a group of 49 separated/divorced persons. We differentiated between nonprescribed, prescribed psychotropic drugs, and other prescribed drugs. The research technique consisted of 3-h in-depth interviews. The independent variables were gender, socio-economic status, and the subjects' own parental status. Contrary to earlier studies, we found a higher drug use among men than women. Combinations of gender with socio-economic status followed different drug use patterns. Higher-status custodial mothers and custodial fathers had the lowest drug use. These results are explored within the framework of gender role atypicality, and suggest that intra-sex variations may be more meaningful to research than broad comparisons between men and women.