Research & Resources

Researchers wanted to understand whether religiousness protects people from alcohol use or makes it easier to stop drinking. They used a national survey on alcohol use that also measured a person’s religiousness, asking them how important their faith was and how often they went to religious services. They found that those who stated they did not go to services or said religion was not as important to them where more likely to start using alcohol, re-start using alcohol, or never stop drinking compared to those who went to more religious services or said religion was not important to them. The paper, “Assessing the Associations Between Religiosity and Alcohol Use Stages in a Representative U.S. Sample,” was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It was published in the journal Substance Use & Misuse.