Religion as a Social Control: A Longitudinal Study of Religious Involvement and Substance Use

The study examines the longitudinal relationship between religious involvement and substance use within emerging adulthood, accounting for changes in religious involvement over time and exploring variations across age, sex, race/ethnicity, and substance (i.e., alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs). To this end, random effects models are used focusing on 11 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997. The findings demonstrate that increases in religious attendance are associated with reduced odds of all forms of substance use. In addition, the religious attendance–substance use relationship becomes weaker with age. Overall, religious attendance has a similar relationship with substance use among males and females, as well as Whites and non-Whites, with a few notable exceptions.