Family Religiosity on Young Adult Alcohol Problems

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed developmental epidemiological study is focused upon the paths leading to alcohol use and abuse and how religiosity influences these paths. The intent of this study is to assess the buffering effect of religiosity during adolescence and adulthood on a variety of identified risk factors for alcohol use and abuse. These risk factors include parental alcohol use, a background of family disadvantage, early (first grade) aggressive and shy-aggressive behavior, poor parental monitoring, low educational attainment, depression, delinquency, and unemployment. The analysis will be conducted using data from a panel study of African Americans from the Woodlawn community in Chicago. This group has been assessed at three data points: first grade (1966-67), adolescence (1975-76) and young adulthood (1992-94). The population consists of a total cohort (N= 1242) of African American adults first studied in 1966 when they were in first grade in Woodlawn, an inner city neighborhood of Chicago. They were assessed three times in first grade, in third grade, during adolescence and most recently in 1993-94 when they were young adults. The overall aim of this research is to gain an understanding of the role that religious affiliation, attendance and participation, and religious salience play in the development of alcohol use, abuse, and alcoholism problems]. The first specific aim focuses on the concurrent relationships between religiosity and alcohol problems in young adulthood. The second aim examines the role of childhood and adolescent factors which may influence the development of alcohol problems and how these factors may moderate or mediate the pathways of religiosity to alcohol problems. The third aim brings together the findings of the first two aims to examine how childhood, adolescent, and young adult risk and protective factors work with religiosity over the life course to influence young adult alcohol problems. Mothers' religiosity is measured at the time of first grade and adolescence; the study "child's" religiosity is measured during adolescence and again in young adulthood. Alcohol problems were measured during adolescence and again in adulthood. We will use several different approaches, including descriptive statistics of prevalence, odds ratios, and mean differences, and multivariate logistic regression, survival analysis, and causal modeling.