Psychosocial and cultural factors in alcohol and drug abuse: An analysis of a homosexual community

Abstract

Homosexual men and women may be at risk for alcohol and drug abuse due to psychosocial variables such as drinking styles, stress, or the cultural importance of bars. The study of psychosocial variables in homosexual culture may help us understand how they operate generally. This paper describes the findings of a large ( n=3400) survey of homosexual population. The core hypothesis was that stress and other psychosocial variables have their primary effects among people made vulnerable to substance abuse by individual expectancies and/or cultural values. Tension reduction expectancies of alcohol effects had substantial effects on alcohol and drug abuse, as did the use of bars as a social resource, a vulnerability variable more specific to urban homosexual culture. Further, stress affected alcohol-drug problems only among people who were “vulnerable” via expectancies and values, and both high risk styles of substance use and simple consumption levels had much stronger effects on problems among vulnerable respondents, thus supporting the stress-vulnerability perspective. Individual differences in social role status was related to alcohol and drug problems, and may explain differences between homosexual and general populations.