Keeping the Faith or Just Blowing Smoke?

This study investigated the relationship between religiosity (high or low attendance at religious services) and tobacco use (smoking or not smoking) by adolescents 12-19 years of age in both nonclinical and clinical psychiatric settings. Questionnaires were used to obtain data from 217 subjects who resided in the southeastern United States. With the exception of early adolescents (12- to 14-year-olds), results showed an inverse relationship between attending religious services and smoking irrespective of gender, age, and clinical group. The 12 to 14 age group had the fewest smokers (25.4%) with the 15-to 18-year-olds accounting for the majority (74.6%) of smokers. The high religiosity group had significantly fewer smokers (56.7%) than the low religiosity group (22%), X2 (1. n = 211)= 16.12, P < 0.00009. This study supports further investigation of religiosity (attendance at religious services) for inclusion as an intervention to reduce smoking behaviors in adolescents.