Social control as an explanation of sex differences in substance use among adolescents

A number of longitudinal studies of the use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and other substances by teenagers have indicated that males and females differ in their frequency of use of all substances except cigarettes. Despite these sex differences, little attention has been paid to explaining why males are more frequent users. A major question is whether the processes that lead to substance use by females are the same as the processes that lead to substance use by males. In this paper we focus on social control theory as a potentially valuable explanatory framework for understanding substance use and compare male and female teenagers to see if social control processes relate to their substance use similarly. The research model we will be examining includes substance use, gender, and measures of social control.