Table 8 Gender differences and cannabis use during the pandemic

Gender

(Leatherdale et al. 2021)

¬ Female youth appeared to either maintain or escalate use relative to males across all cannabis use outcomes modeled.

¬ The reduction in the expected escalation of cannabis use among males (− 1.6 (− 2.9, − 0.3) p = .016) relative to females (0.8 (− 0.2, 1.7) p = .138) during the initial COVID-19 period, which suggests cannabis use among males may be more socially driven than among females.

(Dumas et al. 2020)

¬ The percentage of cannabis using adolescents decreased for girls only (3% decrease, from 16.4 to 13.4%, p < .01), yet the frequency of cannabis use increased significantly from pre-COVID to post-COVID (F (1, 1029) = 8.04, p = .01). Analysis revealed this increase was only significant for girls (F (1,799) = 8.04, p = .01) and not for boys (F (1, 225) ¼0.02, p¼0.88. More girls used substances with their parents (47%) and engaged with acquaintances through social posts (40%) in contrast to boys (30% and 24%, respectively).

(Prowse et al. 2021)

¬ Coping with COVID-19 by using cannabis was associated with more negative impacts on schoolwork for males compared to females (p < .01).

¬ Cannabis use was associated with negative impacts on mental health for both males (p’s < 0.01) and females (p’s < 0.05), but the effects were stronger for males.