Risk Factors in the Relationship between Gender and Crack Cocaine

描述（由申请人提供）：以前的研究表明，市中心女性比任何其他药物更有可能使用快克/可卡因，并且在当前使用和终生最重的使用中，也比男性更有可能使用快克/可卡因（Lejuez等人，in press）。此外，先前的研究结果表明，冲动可能是女性在一生中选择快克/可卡因的原因。快克/可卡因的使用比其他毒品更与一些严重危害健康的行为有关，包括危险的性行为和艾滋病毒的感染。在先前研究的基础上，这个横断面的，探索性的研究240。目前正在接受药物滥用治疗的吸毒者，旨在重复先前的研究结果，表明女性比男性更频繁地使用快克/可卡因（目前和一生中最重的）。此外，本研究将探讨冲动性在性别与快客/古柯碱药物使用关系中的中介作用。因为冲动性已经被确定为一个多维结构，它将以多方法的方式进行测量，使用自我报告和行为任务，以解决冲动性的具体组成部分如何与药物选择相关。进一步，本研究计划通过探索药物使用的环境背景和个人对该环境的反应来扩展先前的研究。为了实现这一目标，将使用自我报告和行为任务来评估使用者社会网络中的药物可获得性和药物获取手段的社会环境变量，以及对排斥敏感性，封闭需求和倾向于符合网络中其他人的药物使用的社会认知变量。社会行动理论（SAT）将被用作指导工作的框架。SAT详细阐述了现有的社会认知模型。具体来说，SAT在药物选择中的应用将包括3个主要领域：1)环境背景；2)个体的自我调节能力；3)影响自我调节的内在情感状态。在公共卫生方面，这项研究有可能为制订专门针对市中心快克/可卡因滥用妇女的药物治疗和干预战略提供信息和帮助，这一群体目前得不到充分的服务和了解，其目标是限制特别与这种药物有关的后果，包括监禁和艾滋病毒感染。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Previous work has indicated that inner-city women are significantly more likely to use crack/cocaine than any other drug, and are also more likely to use crack/cocaine than men across current use and lifetime heaviest use (Lejuez, et al., in press). In addition, previous results suggest that impulsivity may underlie the choice of women to choose crack/cocaine when considered over their lifetime. These findings of elevated crack use with women are surprising and problematic as crack/cocaine use, more so than other drugs, has been related to a number of serious health-compromising behaviors including risky sexual behavior and contraction of HIV. Building on previous research, this cross-sectional, exploratory study of 240.drug users, currently enrolled in residential substance abuse treatment, aims to replicate the previous findings indicating that females evidence greater use (current and lifetime heaviest) of crack/cocaine compared to males. In addition, this study will examine role of impulsivity as a mediator in the relationship between gender and crack/cocaine drug use. Because impulsivity has been identified as a multidimensional construct, it will be measured in a multi-method manner using both self-report and behavioral tasks in order to address how specific components of impulsivity are related to drug choice. Further this study plans to expand upon previous research by exploring the environmental context surrounding drug use and the individual's response to that context. To accomplish this goal, both self-report and behavioral tasks will be used to assess the social context variables of drug availability within a user's social networks and means of drug obtainment, as well as the social cognitive variables of sensitivity to ostracism, need for closure, and tendency to conform to the drug use of those in one's network. The Social Action Theory (SAT) will be used as a framework to guide the work. The SAT elaborates upon existing social-cognitive models. Specifically, the application of SAT to drug choice will encompass 3 major domains: 1) environmental context, 2) selfregulation capacities of the individual and, 3) internal-affective states that influence self-regulation. In terms of public health, this research has the potential to inform and aid in the development of drug treatment and intervention strategies specifically tailored to inner-city crack/cocaine abusing women, a currently underserved and poorly understood population, with the goal of limiting resulting consequences especially linked to this drug including incarceration and HIV infection.