Teenagers with personal religious beliefs are half as likely to become alcoholics or drug addicts, the study reports.
Personal spirituality prevents adolescents from developing alcoholism or abusing drugs, according to new study results from Columbia University in New York.
Teenagers with personal religious beliefs are half as likely to become alcoholics or drug addicts, the study reports. A more personal degree of devotion, personal conservatism, and institutional conservatism are factors that contribute to the lower risk.
The correlation between religion and substance abuse was much higher in the present study of adolescents than in previous adult studies.
“Religious beliefs are protective,” said Dr. Gary Hopkins. “I think we’ve always had this notion.” Hopkins, director of the Center for Behavioral Research at Andrews University, has conducted similar studies of Seventh-day Adventist youth.
The Columbia study, however, shows for the first time that personal spirituality protects against ever developing addiction to alcohol or drugs, according to Lisa Miller, lead author. The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry published the results in September.
Survey authors considered how personal devotion and personal conservatism affect a teen’s chance of developing drug or alcohol habits. They defined these as showing an active personal relationship with the Divine, showing a personal choice to teach and adhere closely to creed, and the degree of fundamentalism in their religious denomination.
Teenagers with an active and personal relationship with a “Higher Power” and who were of a fundamentalist denomination were found to be less likely to engage in marijuana or cocaine use, the study also found.
Personal devotion and institutional conservatism were also inversely associated with substance dependence or abuse.
The study differentiated between a forced adherence to religion and a personal sense of spirituality, the latter being most effective in prevention. The study concluded that high-risk adolescents could be protected if they “engage with a Higher Power or become involved in a religious community.”
A community of faith has already been shown to help in prevention, according to Dr. Duane McBride, chair of the behavioral sciences program at Andrews University. McBride has conducted several studies about how substance abuse relates to religion.
“We have studied the correlation for decades,” McBride says. “But most researchers are secular. They often don’t understand religious values.”
McBride and Hopkins have completed a new study about substance abuse and religion. The results will be published later this year.
Hopkins believes, based on previous and current research, that relationships formed, inside or outside a faith community, also help teens refrain from substance abuse. “If it’s about beliefs, all you have to do is teach beliefs,” Hopkins said. “But it’s not what you know, it’s the relationships you have.”
“Kids don’t lack information, they lack caring,” he said.
