Gendered Pathways? Gender, Mediating Factors, and the Gap in Boys’ and Girls’ Substance Use

Abstract

A gender gap in alcohol and drug use exists but is somewhat smaller than the gender gap in other forms of delinquency. This article extends studies that examine the gender–delinquency relationship to substance use in particular and estimate the extent to which major risk and protective factors mediate the association between gender and alcohol and marijuana use. The authors simultaneously draw on two traditional delinquency theories, social learning and social control, and the feminist pathways perspective regarding victimizations. This gendered pathways approach highlights the extent to which gender influences life experiences and thus the trajectories of girls and boys. In a large sample of 8th to 12th graders, school bonds and victimizations accounted for much of the gender–substance use relationship, especially in the case of casual and binge drinking.