Gender Differences in Addiction: The Emerging Epidemic in Women and Girls

The gender gap in prevalence of substance use disorders in the United States has dramatically narrowed. This includes alcohol, opioids, and cannabis, with rising rates in women and girls across race, ethnicity, and lifespan, resulting in serious substance-related health and social consequences. This project examines (1) trends in women and girls with a specific focus on adolescents, and women in disproportionately affected populations, (2) essential drivers of these changes, (3) lack of gender-specific treatments for girls and women, and (4) policy solutions to identify and overcome barriers to prevention and treatment. This project’s goal is to devise an innovative framework to understand these changes and provide actionable initiatives in treatment, public health, and policy.

Students will work on systematic literature reviews to inform this project with the goal of publishing results in peer-reviewed journals. Research partners with skills in literature searches/reviews, research in psychiatry/psychology, addiction psychiatry, and gender will collaborate on literature reviews and writing of peer reviewed scholarship. Other opportunities may include collaborations on publishing results from a data set focused on substance use and life stressors in adult women in the US. Skills in literature reviews, scientific journal searches, library research, psychology/psychiatry research, and data analysis are helpful for this project.