Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Purpose: Existing empirical research has demonstrated that among adolescents religion is associated with lower alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use (Merrill, Folsom, & Christopherson, 2005; Wallace, Brown, Bachman, & Laveist, 2003). This relationship has been observed in studies with African American, European American, and Hispanics samples. Most of these studies have been guided by an assumption that religion only has a direct effect on adolescent substance use (Rew and Wong, 2006). Neglecting to assess the indirect effect of religion on adolescent substance use ignores the need to examine what mechanisms link religion to the outcome variable. Understanding the process in which religion affects adolescent outcomes is important for the development of theory and prevention programs. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess both the direct and indirect effects of family religiosity on adolescent substance use among African American and European American adolescents. Hypotheses: The following hypotheses were tested separately for African American and European American adolescents: Hypothesis 1: It was hypothesized that family religiosity will have a direct effect on adolescent substance use and an indirect effect on adolescent substance use via parental monitoring. Hypothesis 2: It was hypothesized that family religiosity will have a direct effect on adolescent substance use and an indirect effect on adolescent substance use via parental control. Methods: Data for this study were derived from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), Round 1, which is a nationally representative sample. The sample for this study consisted of 6894 adolescents ages 12 to 16 (Mean =13.99, SD = 1.40) who lived with their mothers; of these adolescents 2229 were African Americans and 4665 were European Americans. A series of binary logistic and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the hypothesized mediating effects. To assess the mediating effects, the recommendations of Baron and Kenny (1986) were followed, and the Sobel's (1986) test of mediation was conducted to determine the statistical significance of the mediation effects found. Results: The results indicated that for African American adolescents parental monitoring and control mediated the relationship between family religiosity and adolescent substance use. As for European American adolescents, parental monitoring and control partially mediated the relationship between family religiosity and adolescent substance use. Implications for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention: Based on the findings of this study both faith-based and non faith-based programs designed to reduce the risk of substance abuse among African American adolescents whose families are religious should not solely focus on having these families engage in more religious activities, but encourage these families to engage in more monitoring of and limit setting for their adolescents. As for European American families, these families should be encouraged to engage in more religious activities with their adolescents, as well as monitor and set limits for them.