Fractured family relationships increase susceptibility for polydrug use, study finds

LAWRENCE — Patterns of drug use remain inseparably linked to social status and access to resources, according to a University of Kansas researcher.

“Drugs are a way to cope with stress,” said Jarron Saint Onge, professor of sociology. “It’s not the healthiest way, but it is one way. Different classes of people in different cultures cope in different ways.”

One such group Saint Onge studied proves particularly vulnerable to this coping mechanism. His new article titled “Polydrug Use Patterns Among Mexican American Women” examines the relationship between using multiple types of drugs (marijuana, amphetamine, heroin and cocaine/crack) and social inequality among low-income Mexican American women. His research finds that low socioeconomic status and fractured family relationships increase susceptibility for polydrug use.

The article appears in the Journal of Drug Issues.

“Among this marginalized Latina population, we find over time that there continues to be high levels of substance use. But we also see how strong maternal attachment and strong familial attachment has the ability to reduce polydrug use,” Saint Onge said.

He called the subjects of this research a “a really unique and interesting group.”

“They were first sampled when they were younger, as this is a longitudinal study. If you look at the overall prevalence rates, their substance use is unusually high. We’re talking about 30-year-olds, not 18-year-olds. There’s a misunderstanding that people are going to potentially age out of drug use, or some of the poly use is going to go away,” he said. 

Instead, these women don’t age out of it. They continue to use high levels of not just marijuana but harder drugs as well.

The findings examined patterns of 30-day use of these drugs by U.S.-born Mexican American women living in economically marginalized communities. Specifically, this involved nearly 200 San Antonio-based women attached to gang members. Saint Onge co-wrote the article with Alice Cepeda and Jessica Frankeberger of Arizona State University, Qianwei Zhao of Baylor University, Tasha Perdue of The Ohio State University, Esmeralda Ramirez of the University of Texas at Austin, Kathryn Nowotny of the University of Miami and Avelardo Valdez of the University of Southern California.

“The biggest takeaway is that context matters,” he said. “Structural inequality is an important factor in substance use among this population. So when thinking about how this can be dealt with, we need to continue to go back to things like unemployment, income, unstable housing. In a time where we continue to undermine all the social safety networks, those things continue to compromise health.”

As opposed to any other economically disadvantaged group, Latina women appear particularly susceptible because they tend to be more marginalized from the health care system, Saint Onge said. This is due to language and cultural barriers.

Is this problem fixable?

“Yes, it’s fixable in a sense that we can reduce disparities. But I don’t know the exact answer for what that requires,” he said. 

“Some possibilities are job opportunities, stable housing, trauma-informed care. I mean, there are always going to be inequalities. There are always going to be disparities. But we must think about some of the strengths of why people are healthier to begin with, and a lot of that is due to family, culture, support and different types of foods. These things are often washed away once you get embedded within an American context.” 

A KU faculty member since 2016, Saint Onge studies social determinants of health. He is also the co-director of the Kansas Population Center and director of KU Medical Center’s population health doctoral program. 

He said, “I’m really interested in women’s health and structural inequality, and a lot of my research focuses asks, ‘How does context define health behaviors?’”

Saint Onge said he hopes this latest article highlights the role of structural factors on health behaviors.

“In this case, drug use is highlighting that it’s not simply individual choice,” he said. “We’re seeing these patterns playing out across groups of people. Sociologists think a lot about agency and your available opportunities, your available choices, the available norms around you. But we also see how dealing with these situations is different for different groups of people.”