The Effects of Family Religiosity, Parental Limit-setting, and Monitoring on Adolescent Substance Use

Family Religiosity, Parental Monitoring, and Emerging Adults’ Sexual Behavior

The processes through which families play a role in the religious and sexual socialization of children are varied and complex. Few studies have considered the impact of parental or family religiosity on young people’s sexual behaviors, either directly or through influence on adolescents’ own religiosity. This study of college students at a large, public university in the mid-Atlantic uses multidimensional measures to examine the relationships among family religiosity, parental monitoring during adolescence, students’ religiosity, and students’ specific sexual behaviors. Results suggest that greater family religiosity is associated with a decreased likelihood of engaging in certain sex acts, but for students who do engage, family religiosity is not associated with any differences in the timing of sexual onset or in the numbers of partners with whom students engaged. Results also suggest that parental monitoring may mediate the relationship between family religiosity and some sexual risk behavior. Greater individual religiosity is associated with a lower likelihood of having engaged in any sexual activity, and a higher likelihood of condom use for students who have had vaginal sex. This study offers valuable insights into the role that religiosity, at both the family and the individual level, plays in college students’ sexual behavior.

The Impact of Religiosity on Substance Abuse and Obesity in African Americans

Among the African American community, there exist many health disparities which warrant greater examination through the practice of social work. The aim of the present research was to explore the impact of religiosity on substance abuse and obesity among African American populations by employing a systematic review of the current body of literature on this subject. While many of the studies reviewed found at least a weak relationship between religiosity and obesity, such results were not consistent across all materials examined. Among those studies that found a correlation between these factors, many demonstrated that religiosity had a positive impact on substance abuse and obesity. A discussion of the implications of these findings is submitted as a means of illuminating the significance of all research findings that were examined. Limitations such as more standardized criteria for inclusion of research material are identified and discussed. Implications for future research are presented to promote the advancement of future efforts in this area research.

The Availability of Substances in Adolescence: Influences in Emerging Adulthood

This study examines how the availability of substances in the home during adolescence and its influence on substance use in young adulthood. Data are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health). The final sample consisted of approximately 15,000 cases from waves 1, 3 and 4. Multivariate analyses indicate that the availability of substances in the home affects young adult substance use and substance use in later young adulthood. We also find that the availability of substances in the home during adolescence is associated with an earlier age at first substance use. This study offers further evidence for understanding how the home environment affects substance use behavior among young adults. In this case, exposure to substances in adolescence, and their easy availability increases the likelihood of substance use in adolescence, and increases use in young adulthood.

The Religious Context of Parenting, Family Processes, and Alcohol use in Early Adolescence

Personal religiosity has been identified as a protective factor against adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. Less is known about the influence of the religious context of parenting on the drinking behavior of adolescents. This study addresses this gap by investigating how religious context of parenting is related to marital relationship, parenting practice, child-parent bonding, and alcohol use and misuse in early adolescence. Through a structural equation modeling analysis of the data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study finds that the religious context of parenting is negatively related to prevalence of alcohol use, frequency of alcohol consumption, and frequency of heavy drinking among early adolescents. In addition to its direct effect on adolescent drinking behavior, religious context of parenting appears to inhibit alcohol use and misuse indirectly by decreasing interparental conflict and increasing effective parenting and child-parent relationship.