Religiosity and decreased risk of substance use disorders: is the effect mediated by social support or mental health status?

Abstract

ObjectiveThe negative association between religiosity (religious beliefs and church attendance) and the likelihood of substance use disorders is well established, but the mechanism(s) remain poorly understood. We investigated whether this association was mediated by social support or mental health status.MethodWe utilized cross-sectional data from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 36,370). We first used logistic regression to regress any alcohol use in the past year on sociodemographic and religiosity variables. Then, among individuals who drank in the past year, we regressed past year alcohol abuse/dependence on sociodemographic and religiosity variables. To investigate whether social support mediated the association between religiosity and alcohol use and alcohol abuse/dependence we repeated the above models, adding the social support variables. To the extent that these added predictors modified the magnitude of the effect of the religiosity variables, we interpreted social support as a possible mediator. We also formally tested for mediation using path analysis. We investigated the possible mediating role of mental health status analogously. Parallel sets of analyses were conducted for any drug use, and drug abuse/dependence among those using any drugs as the dependent variables.ResultsThe addition of social support and mental health status variables to logistic regression models had little effect on the magnitude of the religiosity coefficients in any of the models. While some of the tests of mediation were significant in the path analyses, the results were not always in the expected direction, and the magnitude of the effects was small.ConclusionsThe association between religiosity and decreased likelihood of a substance use disorder does not appear to be substantively mediated by either social support or mental health status.

The impact of religious behaviours on the health and well-being of emerging adults

“…Religious commitment and religiosity (including church attendance) have been associated with lower rates of alcohol use (Edlund et al, 2009), binge drinking, and marijuana use (White et al, 2006) among college students. Students who reported declines in their attendance at religious services also reported a corresponding increase in consumption of alcohol and marijuana (Bryant et al, 2003).…”

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“…Authors have been pointing out religiosity as a protective factor against the consumption of drugs, [18][19][20] reinforcing that religiosity remains a protective factor against the use of psychoactive substances, both licit and illicit. In this context, it is possible to infer that religion may represent a strength in the sense of helping the professional of the Family Health team to develop preventive actions for the community in partnership with the churches in the covered area in the planning of educational actions for health.…”

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“…[1][2][3][4] Religious attendance, religious affiliation, and intrinsic religiousness have been associated with lower rates of alcohol use/abuse, binge drinking, and lifetime use of alcohol. 1,[5][6][7][8] Mullen et al 9 found that Catholics are more permissive in their attitudes, while Protestants are more likely to endorse abstinence from alcohol.…”