The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
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We tested three competing models about whether gender- and sexuality-based harassment at school have nonindependent, additive, or interactive effects on adolescents' electronic cigarette use (i.e., vaping), cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and heavy episodic drinking (HED). We also tested whether harassment mediated substance use disparities between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) adolescents and their cisgender heterosexual peers. ⋯ Gender- and sexuality-based harassment at school independently or interactively produced LGBT disparities in substance use. Reducing these types of discrimination in schools will likely mitigate these disparities.