The influence of spirituality and religious participation on binge drinking: An investigation into subjective and structural mechanisms of desistance

Purpose

Research on the mechanisms of desistance from substance abuse have delineated between subjective and structural mechanisms. Similarly, research on religiosity has distinguished two separate domains, behavioral and attitudinal. The present study bridges these concepts and examines the impact of spirituality and religious participation on binge drinking behavior.

Methods

This paper uses a secondary data source for a sample of 1354 adolescents adjudicated for serious offenses followed over a 7-year period. The analysis employs multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models to separate within, between, and person-context effects of subjective measure spirituality and structural measure religious participation on binge drinking.

Results

Analyses reveal that the subjective factor, spirituality, has significant within effects on the likelihood to engage in binge drinking, while religious participation was not significant at either level. Furthermore, the interaction effect was found to be significant in that increased religious participation in combination with increased spirituality can increase the likelihood of abstinence from binge drinking.

Conclusions

Results of this study hold implications for the desistance mechanism debate within the context of religiosity and substance use. Finding suggest the subjective factor of spirituality is more influential in the desistance process of binge drinking than the structural factor of religious participation.