The Relationship Between Religiosity and Marijuana Use Among Asian and African American Adolescents

Background and Purpose: Marijuana use is common and problematic among the adolescent population in the U.S. The rate of marijuana use among youths between the ages of 12 to 17 in the country has increased from 6.7% in 2007 to 7.9% in 2011, and about 1 in 6 who start using as a teen become addicted to marijuana. These rates are concerning since the substance has been associated with detrimental problems in this population including school failure, depression and anxiety. Emerging research suggests that the degree of religiosity among youths may serve as a protective factor against addiction, and that such factors may vary by race. Studies that have observed these effects to date report mixed findings, and nearly exclusively have been conducted in samples of white, African American, or Hispanic youths. This study extends the current findings by (1) examining the impact of religiosity on marijuana use in a sample of Asian youths, and (2) exploring the impact of race on the association between religiosity and marijuana use.

Methods: Researchers asked (n= 598) Asian and (n= 2, 640) African American youths aged 12 to 17 about their religiosity and marijuana use as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Study. Regarding religiosity, participants were asked (1) the degree to which religiosity is important; (2) whether their religiosity influences their decisions; and (3) whether they share these beliefs with their friends. These three items were dichotomized for data analysis (0= disagree; 1= agree). Marijuana use was dichotomized (0= no use; 1= use). A binary logistic regression was computed to examine impact of religiosity on marijuana use, and the interactions of race (0= African American; 1= Asian) and religiosity on marijuana use.

Results: There was a significant prediction of the participants’ marijuana use by all predictors of religiosity, χ²(4, N= 3238) = 84.373, p<.001. The Wald tests showed that adolescents who made decisions based on their religious beliefs were 0.5 times (OR= 0.52) less likely to use marijuana than those who did not; Those, whose friends shared the importance of their religious beliefs was almost 0.8 times (OR= 0.77) less likely to use marijuana than those who did not; Asian adolescents were 0.3 times (OR= 0.29) less likely to use marijuana than African American counterparts. However, there was no significant difference in marijuana use between those who valued the importance of their religious beliefs and those who did not. Further, results did not reveal any significant interactions of race by religiosity in marijuana use in the sample.

Conclusions and Implications: Results revealed that religiosity may serve as a protective factor against marijuana use for both Asian and African American adolescents. This study highlights a need for social workers to focus on the factors that may protect these youths, such as religiosity, from using marijuana. Such efforts, coupled with an increased awareness of the detrimental effects of the drug, may also help inform the development of more specific prevention or treatment programs for the Asian and African American teenagers.