![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This study reports the prevalence of cannabis use among bisexual women in Ontario, Canada, and identifies correlations among levels of cannabis use (no use, some use, active use) and measures of mental health and social support. Analysis focused on 262 bisexual women from a bisexual mental health study using respondent-driven sampling. Among networked bisexual women in Ontario, Canada, the weighted prevalence of past-year cannabis use was 33.6%, with 13.8% of bisexual women using cannabis twice or more per week. Cannabis use was positively associated with social support, gay community involvement, outness to family, and depression. There was no significant association between cannabis use and anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, antibisexual experiences, or suicidal ideation. Bisexual women's rate of past-year cannabis use is more than 5 times that for Canadian women in general, and is consistent with rates for bisexual women found in U.S. studies.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Tamara Arenovich (MSc), Adjunct Professor in the Biostatistics division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, who helped craft the data analysis plan; Dr. Lori Ross, Associate Professor in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, who supervised Dr. Robinson's postdoctoral research; Dr. Greta Bauer, of the Epidemiology & Biostatistics department at Western University, for her work on the data set and comments on drafts of this article; Dr. Shamara Baidoobonso for assistance with data cleaning and coding; Dr. Giselle Gos for her stellar editing services; members of the Research Team and the Bisexual Community Advisory Committee from Risk & Resilience, for helping to shape the research plan; members of the Re:searching for LGBTQ Health team who contributed to this project (see www.lgbtqhealth.ca), and especially all participants in the Risk & Resilience study. Thank you!
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Margaret Robinson
Margaret Robinson, PhD, is a bisexual feminist scholar from Nova Scotia and a member of the Lennox Island First Nation. Her work examines mental health and substance use in Indigenous and Settler populations, especially among sexual and gender minority people. She is currently a Researcher in Residence in Indigenous Health at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and an Affiliate Research Scientist at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario.
Marcos Sanches
Marcos Sanches, MSc, is a biostatistician currently working at the Biostatistical Consulting Service, at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, where he has been working for 4 years. Marcos also has a faculty appointment at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, at the University of Toronto, in the department of Biostatistics. He has a broad experience with statistical analysis, having also worked for many years in the Marketing Research and Public Opinion industry, with extensive use of sampling and analysis of surveys involving complex sampling design.
Melissa A. MacLeod
Melissa A. MacLeod, MSc, is currently a Health Data Analyst for the Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services. She was previously a Research Associate for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in the Social and Epidemiological Research Department. Her research interests are broad, including topics such as mental health, substance use, health services access, and research methodology.