Religiosity and the Social Distribution of Alcohol Problems in the Transition to Adulthood.

Does being more religious make one less susceptible to alcohol problems? This paper considers the effects of religiosity (religious self-perception and coping) and attendance at religious services on the distribution of alcohol problems by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Data come from a sample of 1,803 Miami-Dade County young adults interviewed between 1997 and 2000. One-way ANOVA and OLS regression indicate that, although males exhibit higher levels of alcohol abuse, religious involvement has a similar linear negative association with alcohol problems for both sexes. The most noteworthy contrast is found between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites. African Americans display a low level of alcohol problems with a virtually flat trend line. This situation reflects a high overall level of religious involvement with little variability. In contrast, whites show high variability in both religiousness and alcohol problems; these are related in an inverse linear fashion. Also, results show that, while religious involvement inhibits alcohol problems at all SES levels, all significant relationships between SES and alcohol problems are positive. Higher parental SES increases the risk for alcohol abuse-?most likely because people with higher SES tend to be less religious and more permissive with respect to alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]