| Abstract: | We estimate a series of multivariate logistic regression models specifying the effects of gender and other variables on the initiation and escalation of alcohol and other substance use/abuse in a sample of young adults from a general population. After controlling for race, ethnicity, father's education, and a tendency to over‐ or underendorse statements, effects of gender on circumstances surrounding initiation/escalation of binge drinking, marijuana use, and use of other illicit drugs were observed to be congruent with the literature on gender‐related sociodevelopmental processes and empirical studies of the circumstances surrounding substance use. Among substance users/abusers, gender was implicated in self‐reports of the relevance of peer influence, needs to enhance self‐importance and a sense of power, conflictive consequences, sensation‐seeking, and reduction of distress in the processes surrounding initiation and escalation of use. |
