Religion, Family, and Adolescent Drug Use

• NCJ Number: 128892
• Journal: Sociological Perspectives Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1986) Pages: 53-76
• Author(s): A Y Amoateng; S J Bahr
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 18, 1985

Annotation

A national sample of over 17,000 high school seniors was used to study the relationship between alcohol and drug use and other factors including parental education, employment status of mother, number of parents in the household, religiosity, religious affiliation, gender, and race.

Abstract

Contrary to some previous research, the findings did not support a relationship between adolescent alcohol or drug use and either parental education or mother's employment status. The difference in marijuana use between adolescents who lived with one or both parents was relatively small and there was no impact of this factor on alcohol use. Gender and race were also associated with drug and alcohol use. Level of religiosity, measured by religious service attendance and self-reported importance of religion, had a significant relationship with both alcohol and drug use, although it varied by denomination. Involvement in any religious group, even those that did not teach abstinence, decreased the level of drug and alcohol use, a finding consistent with social control theory. Involvement in nonreligious groups that provide a bond between the individual and society would presumably have the same effect. 8 tables and 43 references (Author abstract modified)