Multiple drug use and depression: Gender differences among African-Americans in a high-risk community

This study compared gender differences associated with depression and multiple drug use (alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine) among African-Americans in a high-risk community. A street sample (N=553) from four high-risk communities in Birmingham, Alabama, was collected through personal interviews. Interviewers asked respondents about their drug-use behavior in the past 30 days, as well as about their depressive symptoms during the past week, Two-way factorial analysis of variance and follow-up tests showed that depression scores were significantly higher for women than for men among all levels of drug use. This difference was greatest when drug use involved cocaine and/or crack.