Adolescents who perceive religion as important in their lives may have lower rates of cigarette smoking, heavy drinking and marijuana use, according to a new study.
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York tracked urban adolescents from middle school through high school. They found that the perceived importance of religion was particularly important for teens who were facing a lot of life stressors.
The findings are published in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, published by the American Psychological Association.
The researchers studied a sample of 1,182 adolescents in the metropolitan area who were surveyed on four different occasions from 7th grade through 10th grade. During that time, the researchers tracked the participants' drinking, cigarette smoking, marijuana use and perception of religion.
Those adolescents who viewed religion as a meaningful part of their life and a way to cope with problems were half as likely to use drugs as adolescents who didn't view religion as important.
And this held most true while facing hardships, like having an unemployed parent or being sick themselves, the researchers said. This is known as a "buffering effect," from the concept that something about religion serves to buffer the impact of adverse circumstances, they said.
The effect of religion had comparable effects for adolescents from all of the ethnic groups in the study -- blacks, whites and Hispanics.
Importance of religion was determined by responses to simple questions such as, "To be able to rely on religious teachings when you have a problem," or "To be able to turn to prayer when you're facing a personal problem." Participants rated each question on a scale from "Not at all important" to "Very important."
This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.