Title

Religiosity and Adolescent Substance Use: Evidence From the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Authors

Authors

J. A. Ford;T. D. Hill

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Subst. Use Misuse

Keywords

adolescence; religiosity; substance use; AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS; FACE-TO-FACE; ALCOHOL-USE; MARIJUANA USE; SELF-REPORT; JUVENILE ARRESTEES; GENDER-DIFFERENCES; FUTURE-DIRECTIONS; COLLEGE-STUDENTS; COCAINE USE; Substance Abuse; Psychiatry; Psychology

Abstract

Prior research indicates that religiosity is associated with lower levels of substance use in adolescence. The extant research, however, is limited by issues related to data quality and analytic strategy. The current research uses the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to further our understanding of the nature of the relationship between religiosity and substance use during adolescence. Results show that religiosity reduces the odds of tobacco use, heavy drinking, prescription drug misuse, marijuana use, and other illicit drug use. These associations are partially explained by respondent and peer attitudes toward substance use and, to a lesser extent, respondent psychological wellbeing. The influence of respondent substance use attitude is especially pronounced, explaining between 41% (marijuana) and 53% (tobacco) of the association between religiosity and substance use. In fully adjusted models, all mediators account for between 46% (marijuana) and 59% (tobacco) of the association between religiosity and substance use.

Journal Title

Substance Use & Misuse

Volume

47

Issue/Number

7

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

787

Last Page

798

WOS Identifier

WOS:000303332500003

ISSN

1082-6084

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