Drug-Resistance Strategies of Early Adolescents in Mexico: Gender Differences in the Influence of Drug Offers and Relationship to the Offeror

To address increases in substance use among Mexican adolescents, particularly females, US prevention programs are being adapted to the Mexican cultural context. Understanding how responses to substance offers by Mexican adolescents are shaped by gender and relationships to those making offers is an important step in the adaptation process. 

Using data from Guadalajara, Mexico middle schools (N = 431), this pilot study tested for gender differences in the use of several drug resistance strategies commonly taught in US substance abuse prevention interventions. 

Results indicated that the drug-resistance strategies of Mexican early adolescents differ by gender, type of substance offered, and the youth's relationship to the offeror. Contrary to previous research on older Mexican adolescents, in this sample, females received more substance offers from age peers than males did, and employed a wider repertoire of drug-resistance strategies, including active strategies such as direct refusals. Gender differences in use of the strategies persisted after controlling for number of offers received. There were gender differences in the conditional effects of greater exposure to offers. A larger volume of alcohol and cigarette offers predicted females' use of direct strategies more strongly than for males, but less strongly than males for marijuana offers. 

Females' use of drug resistance strategies was more strongly associated with offers from family adults, siblings, and cousins, while males' use of strategies was predicted more strongly by offers from nonfamily adults. Interpretations and prevention implications are discussed in light of changing gender norms in Mexico and gendered patterns of substance use.

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By:  Kulis S1, Booth JM2, Becerra D3.

• 1 Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, Arizona State University , Phoenix , Arizona , USA.
• 2 School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
• 3 School of Social Work, Arizona State University , Phoenix , Arizona , USA.
• Subst Use Misuse. 2016 Feb 23;51(3):370-82. doi: 10.3109/10826084.2015.1110171. Epub 2016 Feb 17. 

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Savvy Sellers: Dealing Drugs, Doing Gender, and Doing Difference

We present findings from two exploratory studies of San Francisco Bay Area women involved in illicit drug sales who saw both advantages and disadvantages to being women in traditionally male-dominated drug economies. 

We interviewed 160 sellers of street drugs and 50 sellers of prescription drugs during 2006-2009. Women perceived gender as a cover and managed their vulnerabilities by performing gendered actions and at times going against traditional gender expectations to protect themselves in harsh drug markets. 

The intersecting factors of race and type of drug sold played a crucial role, revealing the complex nature of women's social location in their drug-selling worlds. 

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By:   Ludwick MD1, Murphy S, Sales P.

• 1Institute for Scientific Analysis, San Francisco , California , USA. 

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