Religion, Family, and Adolescent Drug Use

Abstract

Using a national sample of over 17,000 high school seniors, we examined the effect of education of parents, employment status of mother, number of parents in household, religiosity, religious affiliation, gender, and race on alcohol and marijuana use. Contrary to some previous research, neither parental education nor employment status of mother was related to use of alcohol or marijuana. Adolescents who lived with both parents were less likely than adolescents in single-parent homes to use marijuana, although the differences were relatively small. Number of parents in household was not related to adolescent alcohol use. Level of religiosity had a significant association with alcohol and marijuana use among all religious denominations, although the magnitude of the relationship varied by denomination. Religious denomination, gender, and race were also related to drug use.

God forbid! Substance use among religious and nonreligious youth.

“…(p. 71) For alcohol, the difference between active and inactive members was almost twice as great for Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints members compared with fundamentalist Protestants. For marijuana, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints members again had the greatest difference, followed by Jews (Amoateng & Bahr, 1986). …”

“…It can protect adolescents against substance use in a number of ways. It may inhibit adolescent risk behavior by altering behavior-influencing values or by functioning as an external control factor (Amoateng & Bahr, 1986). Some religions explicitly prohibit substance use.…”

“…Studies have shown that adults and adolescents who believe in the importance of religion are less likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs (Free, 1994; National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2001). One national study found that among adolescents for whom religion was important, 9.9% had used marijuana some time in their life, compared with 21.5% of adolescents for whom religion was only a little important (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2001).Religious involvement can protect against substance use by providing opportunities for prosocial activities, which themselves may promote antidrug conduct norms, and for interaction with nondeviant peers (Amoateng & Bahr, 1986). Youth who are involved in religious activities tend to form peer groups with youth who are involved in similar activities, and they are less likely to form friendships with deviant peers (Mason & Windle, 2001;Oetting et al, 1998).…”

“…The degree of conservatism also determines a religion's influence on its members' behavior. Generally, more conservative religions exercise a stronger influence over their congregations (Amoateng & Bahr, 1986;Free, 1994; National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2001). This influence extends to substance use behavior, as evidenced by L. Miller et al's (2000) study, which found that adolescents who were affiliated with more fundamentalist Christian denominations had a later age of onset for alcohol use and were more likely to abstain from drinking.…”

Alcohol Use and Religiousness/Spirituality Among Adolescents

“…[4][5][6][7] A national survey by the Gallup Poll found that 95% of teenagers believe in God, 93% believe that God loves them, 80% say that their religious beliefs are very or fairly important to them, and 52% have attended a religious service in the past month. 8 Miller et al 9 found that religiousness had twice the negative strength of association with substance dependence among adolescents compared with adults.…”