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Regular Users IV - Sex Differences in UK Drug Use

Atha MJ, Blanchard S & Davis S (2000)

Version 1.0

The IDMU Regular Users IV Survey involved a total sample of 2173 drug users who completed anonymous questionnaires at pop festivals and other UK events during 1999.

Respondents were questioned about their patterns of drug use, including age of initiation to using a range of specified legal and illegal drugs, and monthly spending and subjective ratings of these drugs, amongst a variety of other questions including political opinions, drug prices, driving behaviour and health effects.

Sample Demographics
	Income ***		Age (all) ns		Sex (all) n %
Male	871	10840	1214	27.66	1242	57.16%
Female	550	8932.54	734	27.16	747	34.38%
Not stated	108	11195.01	145	28.47	184	8.47%
Total					2173

Alcohol, Tobacco & Cannabis - quantitative measures of use
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
	Can Use ***		Can Buy ***		Can Spend **		Can spend 2 **
Male	1063	31.63	1011	58.20	828	117.07	738	96.10
Female	598	18.81	522	19.15	435	59.15	406	56.68
Not stated	134	24.76	127	36.36	98	98.68	88	83.05

	TC per day †		Alc units wk ***		Cigs per day *		Spliffs per day ns
Male	1045	4.78	1037	25.28	805	12.38	840	6.34
Female	638	4.45	594	16.07	451	11.21	456	5.05
Not stated	133	4.98	132	18.61	99	14.23	107	5.88

Numbers having ever used, and Age at first use of each drug by sex
	TC 1st ***		Tob 1st ns		Alc 1st ns		Can 1st †
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
Male	1008	6.97	998	13.64	1031	12.32	1043	15.64
Female	635	8.18	618	16.27	655	12.31	641	16.17
Not stated	123	7.54	127	13.96	133	12.38	136	15.62

	Amp 1st ns		Bas 1st ns		Coc 1st ns		Opi 1st ns
Male	776	18.07	474	19.59	625	21.07	286	20.41
Female	426	18.18	233	18.88	329	20.69	128	21.68
Not stated	93	17.60	56	19.27	78	20.65	37	19.84

	Mus 1st ns		Cra 1st ns		Her 1st ns		Sem 1st ns
Male	746	18.36	132	22.73	170	21.62	3	19.33
Female	361	18.58	49	21.61	79	20.34	2	18.00
Not stated	87	18.34	21	24.71	28	21.54	2	9.00

	Ket 1st ***		LSD 1st ns		Ext 1st ns		Bar 1st ns
Male	196	22.82	723	18.07	638	20.94	100	18.71
Female	98	21.49	380	18.2	358	20.42	38	17.39
Not stated	24	26.62	89	18.18	79	20.85	17	17.94

	Tra 1st ns		Sol 1st ns		Met 1st ns		Ghb 1st ns
Male	159	18.99	152	14.36	58	21.79	38	24.13
Female	120	19.14	73	14.11	23	19.96	18	23.67
Not stated	22	19.95	20	15.75	12	21.42	5	23.20
					93
	Pop 1st †		Ste 1st ns		Oth 1st
Male	512	18.01	11	18.27	65	22.88
Female	299	17.29	8	18.38	33	19.27
Not stated	63	18.59	4	18.25	8	19.62

Numbers recently buying drugs and Monthly spending on drugs (£ per month) by sex
	TC £ **		Tob £ ns		Alc £ **		Can £ **
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
Male	596	8.31	648	38.71	723	65.20	738	96.10
Female	419	7.16	401	36.90	466	48.45	406	56.68
Not stated	76	12.66	82	40.32	89	59.04	88	83.05

	Amp £ ns		Bas £ ns		Coc £ **		Opi £ ns
Male	195	20.71	117	18.80	145	62.15	15	32.67
Female	99	15.96	57	25.91	52	44.33	3	2.33
Not stated	23	21.00	13	19.23	14	117.68	4	127.5

	Mus £ ns		Cra £ ns		Her £ ns		Sem £ n/a
Male	121	5.05	14	68.57	12	49.17	n/a	n/a
Female	54	1.70	2	30.00	12	138.75	n/a	n/a
Not stated	18	3.06	6	73.50	11	533.45	n/a	n/a
							1	0
	Ket £ ns		LSD £ ns		Ext £ †		Bar £ ns
Male	21	17.71	167	7.78	258	26.36	8	11.38
Female	11	10.42	57	7.40	139	23.09	5	1.20
Not stated	4	10.00	16	4.72	26	16.37	2	7.50

	Tra £ ns		Sol £ ns		Met £ ns		GHB £
Male	16	5.16	4	1.75	5	20.00
Female	12	3.48	3	5.00	1	0
Not stated	2	2.00	1	8.50	3	1.67

	Pop £ ns		Ste £ ns
Male	40	5.33	1	25.00
Female	14	6.11	2	7.50
Not stated	4	2.78	1	0

Subjective ratings of drugs by sex (0-10 scale)
	TC rt ***		Tob rt ***		Alc rt ns		Can rt ns
	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean	n	mean
Male	829	5.92	784	3.56	805	6.10	825	8.32
Female	552	6.50	502	4.31	537	6.39	520	8.23
Not stated	99	5.47	91	4.42	96	6.34	96	8.06

	Amp rt ns		Bas rt ns		Coc rt ns		Opi rt *
Male	577	4.79	415	5.00	498	6.30	276	5.33
Female	332	4.86	221	4.90	279	5.84	158	4.54
Not stated	62	4.26	46	4.37	52	6.62	29	4.69

	Mus rt *		Cra rt **		Her rt *		Sem rt ns
Male	529	7.48	223	2.64	241	2.80	101	1.75
Female	288	6.79	126	1.93	146	2.86	82	1.57
Not stated	62	7.71	24	4.67	27	5.00	10	0.50

	Ket rt *		LSD rt *		Ext rt *		Bar rt ns
Male	226	3.44	526	7.11	492	7.23	169	2.38
Female	142	2.87	282	6.39	305	6.74	105	2.45
Not stated	27	4.89	55	6.73	57	7.54	17	2.29

	Tra rt ns		Sol rt ns		Met rt ns		GHB rt ns
Male	195	2.65	201	1.50	164	1.74	139	2.47
Female	140	3.28	128	1.49	99	1.90	93	2.27
Not stated	22	2.50	23	2.04	18	2.72	15	2.93

	Pop rt ns		Ste rt ns		Oth rt ns
Male	366	2.97	142	1.07	67	5.90
Female	228	2.86	89	1.07	34	6.71
Not stated	38	2.61	17	1.94	5	6.60

Abbreviations:

Drugs: T/C - tea/coffee; Tob - Tobacco; Alc - alcohol, Can - cannabis, Amp - amphetamine, Bas - base amphetamine (purer); Coc - cocaine, Opi - opium, Mush - mushrooms, Cra - crack cocaine, Her - heroin, Sem - Semeron (bogus drug/trick question), Ket - ketamine, Ext - Ecstasy/MDMA, Bar - Barbiturates, Tra - Tranquilliers, Sol - Solvents/Glue, Met - Methadone, GHB - gamma-hydroxybutyrate, Pop - poppers (amyl nitrate), Ste - Steroids, Oth - Other drugs.

Variables: 1st - Age at first use of (drug), £ - Spending per month on (drug), rt - subjective rating of drug on 0-10 scale.

Statistical significance: ns - not significant (p>0.1), † - borderline (p>.051<.099), * - p<.05, ** - p<.01, *** - p<.001 (compared money spent by those respondents spending only, analysis excludes ‘nil’ values unless specified.

Relative Prevalence

The relative prevalence ratio is derived from the numbers of males and females trying each drug relative to the numbers of respondents of each sex. If all (i.e. inc not stated) sexes were equally likely to try a drug then the ratio would be 1.000. Figures above 1 show a higher likelihood of having tried a drug, below 1 a lower likelihood.

Drug	Sex	Relative prevalence
Tea/Coffee	Male	0.999
	Female	1.046
	Not stated	0.823
Tobacco	Male	1.002
	Female	1.031
	Not stated	0.860
Alcohol	Male	0.992
	Female	1.047
	Not stated	0.863
Cannabis	Male	1.003
	Female	1.025
	Not stated	0.882
Amphet	Male	1.048
	Female	0.957
	Not stated	0.848
Base amphet	Male	1.087
	Female	0.888
	Not stated	0.867
Cocaine	Male	1.060
	Female	0.927
	Not stated	0.893
Opium	Male	1.110
	Female	0.826
	Not stated	0.969
Mushrooms	Male	1.093
	Female	0.880
	Not stated	0.861
Crack	Male	1.143
	Female	0.706
	Not stated	1.228
Heroin	Male	1.074
	Female	0.830
	Not stated	1.194
Semeron	Male	0.750
	Female	0.831
	Not stated	3.374
Ketamine	Male	1.078
	Female	0.896
	Not stated	0.891
LSD	Male	1.061
	Female	0.927
	Not stated	0.882
Ecstasy	Male	1.038
	Female	0.969
	Not stated	0.868
Barbiturates	Male	1.129
	Female	0.713
	Not stated	1.295
Tranquillisers	Male	0.924
	Female	1.160
	Not stated	0.863
Solvents	Male	1.085
	Female	0.867
	Not stated	0.964
Methadone	Male	1.091
	Female	0.719
	Not stated	1.524
GHB	Male	1.090
	Female	0.858
	Not stated	0.968
Poppers	Male	1.025
	Female	0.995
	Not stated	0.851
Steroids	Male	0.837
	Female	1.012
	Not stated	2.054
Others	Male	1.073
	Female	0.906
	Not stated	0.891

Commentary

Although men in general take more drugs more often, spend more on drugs, and have more positive attitudes towards drugs, this effect is most marked with legal drugs. The group with the highest level of drug use tended to be those who refused to disclose their sex on the questionnaire.

Women were slightly more likely than men to have reported using caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, ‘semeron’, tranquillisers, and steroids, and less likely to have tried the other drugs listed. The greatest variation was among the ‘not stated’ group. Men used more cannabis more frequently than women, and also more alcohol.

Male cocaine users, and cannabis users, tended to spend more on these drugs than female users, though there were no other significant sex differences in spending on illegal drugs.

There were few significant sex differences in the age at which drugs were first used.

It will be interesting to note how the rating of, and prevalence of GHB use, may change in future years if it is added to the controlled drugs list.

Source - Atha MJ, Blanchard S & Davis S (2000) - Regular Users IV - IDMU Publications

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