NCJ Number
225538
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2008 Pages: 743-770
Date Published
2008
Length
28 pages
Annotation
In an attempt to overcome limitations of previous research, this paper examined the relationship between religiosity and adolescent drug use in two large samples of adolescents.
Abstract
Results indicate that adolescents who were religious were less likely to smoke, drink heavily, and use marijuana than adolescents who were not religious. Adolescents in highly religious schools were less likely to smoke than adolescents in schools low on religiosity. Individual religiosity tended to lessen the influence of peer drug use on respondent drug use for cigarettes, heavy drinking, and marijuana use but not for the use of other illicit drugs. The associations between individual religiosity and the four types of drug use were not affected by the level of school religiosity. A major social problem in the United States is the prevalence of drug use among adolescents. In recent years there has been a growing body of research that indicates that religious involvement has a modest, negative association with adolescent drug use. In this paper the relationship between religiosity, peer drug use, and adolescent drug use among 4,983 Utah adolescents and the 13,534 respondents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were examined. Tables, figures, and references