Abstract
Relatively little is known in terms of the relationship between religiosity profiles and adolescents’ involvement in substance
use, violence, and delinquency. Using a diverse sample of 17,705 (49 % female) adolescents from the 2008 National Survey on
Drug Use and Health, latent profile analysis and multinomial regression are employed to examine the relationships between
latent religiosity classes and substance use, violence, and delinquency. Results revealed a five class solution. Classes were
identified as religiously disengaged (10.76 %), religiously infrequent (23.59 %), privately religious (6.55 %), religious regulars (40.85 %), and religiously devoted (18.25 %). Membership in the religiously devoted class was associated with the decreased likelihood of participation in a
variety of substance use behaviors as well as decreases in the likelihood of fighting and theft. To a lesser extent, membership
in the religious regulars class was also associated with the decreased likelihood of substance use and fighting. However,
membership in the religiously infrequent and privately religious classes was only associated with the decreased likelihood
of marijuana use. Findings suggest that private religiosity alone does not serve to buffer youth effectively against involvement
in problem behavior, but rather that it is the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic adolescent religiosity factors that
is associated with participation in fewer problem behaviors.
use, violence, and delinquency. Using a diverse sample of 17,705 (49 % female) adolescents from the 2008 National Survey on
Drug Use and Health, latent profile analysis and multinomial regression are employed to examine the relationships between
latent religiosity classes and substance use, violence, and delinquency. Results revealed a five class solution. Classes were
identified as religiously disengaged (10.76 %), religiously infrequent (23.59 %), privately religious (6.55 %), religious regulars (40.85 %), and religiously devoted (18.25 %). Membership in the religiously devoted class was associated with the decreased likelihood of participation in a
variety of substance use behaviors as well as decreases in the likelihood of fighting and theft. To a lesser extent, membership
in the religious regulars class was also associated with the decreased likelihood of substance use and fighting. However,
membership in the religiously infrequent and privately religious classes was only associated with the decreased likelihood
of marijuana use. Findings suggest that private religiosity alone does not serve to buffer youth effectively against involvement
in problem behavior, but rather that it is the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic adolescent religiosity factors that
is associated with participation in fewer problem behaviors.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Empirical Research
- Pages 1-16
- DOI 10.1007/s10964-012-9761-z
- Authors
- Christopher P. Salas-Wright, Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, McGuinn Hall, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
- Michael G. Vaughn, Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
- David R. Hodge, School of Social Work, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
- Brian E. Perron, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Journal Journal of Youth and Adolescence
- Online ISSN 1573-6601
- Print ISSN 0047-2891