Religiosity and Substance Use Among College Students in Vietnam

Background and Purpose: Smoking e-cigarettes and alcohol drinking are concerns among college students in Vietnam. Research indicates that college students who the substances generally have lower academic performance than students who do not (Dearfield et al, 2021), and are more susceptible to engaging in marijuana and other polysubstance use than students who do not use (Buu et al., 2019).

Studies of the impact of religiosity and substance use have found that religiosity may serve as a protective factor against substance use among college students (Gomes et al., 2013). To date, there is still an absence of information on the relationship between religiosity characterized by Buddhism and substance use among college students in Vietnam. This study attempts to examine the relationships between religiosity characterized by Buddhism and e-cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking among college students in Vietnam, controlling for peer substance influence, age, and sex.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 at a private university in Vietnam, using a convenience sample of university students from 18 to 24 years old (N=263). The questionnaire of this study excerpted from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) with limited variables such as age, gender, substance use, peer influence, mental health, and religiosity. The study used a binary logistic regression analysis to examine whether religiosity has a predictive or preventative influence on substance use among the population while controlling for age, sex, and peer influence.

Results: The results of a binary logistic regression analyses examining the relationships between all predictors and e-cigarette smoking, X2(4, N= 263) = 119.527, p<.001, and alcohol drinking, X2(4, N= 263) = 87.440, p<.001, indicated that the overall model was statistically significant, with 84.6% of cases being correctly categorized. The study indicated that students who had friends who used substances were more likely to smoke e-cigarettes and drink alcohol compared to those who didn't. However, there was no significant relationship between religiosity and e-cigarette smoking or alcohol drinking among the participants.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study indicated that religiosity characterized by Buddhism did not significantly predict e-cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking among college students in Vietnam. This study extends the extant research by examining the relationships between religiosity characterized by Buddhism and alcohol drinking and e-cigarette smoking among college students in Vietnam.

Twelve-step programs are prevalent and have a significant impact on behavioral change and maintenance of sobriety among individuals with alcohol and drug problems in many countries. Social workers are educated to engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice (CSWE, 2015). Therefore, it is recommended that social workers in Vietnam should consider encouraging the development of Twelve-step programs, especially Buddhist-based recovery programs in the country. By doing so, it allows researchers and practitioners in Vietnam to test and re-test the impact of religiosity on substance use among the Vietnamese population in practice. The combination of research findings and practical testing will allow researchers and practitioners in Vietnam to collect additional evidence on the effects of Buddhism on substance use among Vietnamese.