Religion, psychopathology, and substance use and abuse; a multimeasure, genetic-epidemiologic study

Abstract

Objective: The authors sought to 1) understand the sources of familial resemblance for religiosity, 2) 1997; 154:322-329)

Interactions Between Alcohol Metabolism Genes and Religious Involvement in Association With Maximum Drinks and Alcohol Dependence Symptoms

“…It is also possible that the time order between religious involvement and alcohol problems is reversed; some subjects may increase or decrease their religious involvement as a result of having problems with alcohol. Kendler et al's (1997) study suggested that these alternative relationships are less likely, reporting a stronger relationship between earlier church attendance and later alcohol use rather than between earlier alcohol use and later attendance.…”

“…However, prospective studies are needed to help clarify the relationships between religious involvement, ADH gene variants, and drinking and alcohol dependence symptoms because the current study is cross-sectional and religious involvement was measured at a single time point. Religious services attendance in the past 12 months before interview may not be representative of lifetime attendance, although there is some evidence that services attendance is relatively stable over time (Kendler et al, 1997;Koenig & Vaillant, 2009). Some studies identify reductions in religious attendance from adolescence to young adulthood (Button et al, 2011), which may be less relevant to this adult sample.…”

“…We studied one aspect of religiosity (i.e., services attendance) as a limitation of our data set, but this is a complex construct, and other aspects of religion may offer additional information about this relationship. Kendler et al (1997), for example, showed that the dimensions of religiosity are differentially associated with alcohol use; religious devotion (including services attendance) was associated with the ability to quit or maintain low levels of use, whereas traditional religious beliefs were associated with decisions to ever drink. We were not able to examine the role of spirituality.…”

“…Subjects reported their religious affiliation, categorized as follows: (a) unaffiliated, (b) Catholic affiliation, and (c) other affiliations (e.g., Protestant, fundamentalist Protestant, other Christian, Jewish, and Muslim). Both "having no religious affiliation" or a "Catholic affiliation" have been associated in adults with increased risk for alcoholism and heavier drinking (Heath et al, 1997;Michalak et al, 2007) and with lower levels of religious devotion (e.g., services attendance; Kendler et al, 1997) relative to other religious affiliations. For subjects who identified an affiliation, more than one third of those in three affiliations (i.e., Muslim 85%, fundamentalist Protestant 52%, and Christian, other 46%) reported strict religious rules against drinking alcohol compared with 21% (Protestant) to 0% (Jewish) for other affiliations.…”

Religiosity in relation with psychological distress and mental wellbeing among Muslims

“…Underlying mechanism which is used to explain this relationship is the buffering hypothesis; religiosity may buffer the impact of distress on psychological wellbeing and physiological health (Kendler, Gardner, & Prescott, 1997;Krause, 1998;Pargament, 1997).…”