Alcohol Use and Church Attendance Among Seventh Through Twelfth Grade Students, Dominican Republic, 2011

• Published in: Journal of religion and health Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 675 - 689
• Main Authors: Dohn, Michael N., Méndez, Santa Altagracia Jiménez, Pozo, Maximinia Nolasco, Cabrera, Elizabet Altagracia, Dohn, Anita L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer 01.06.2014; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Aging; Alcohol drinking; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcohol use; Alcoholic beverages; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Alcoholism - prevention & control; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcohols; Binge Drinking - epidemiology; Binge Drinking - prevention & control; Binge Drinking - psychology; Child; Church attendance; Clinical Psychology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Developing Countries; Dominican Republic; Female; Health promotion; Health Surveys; High school students; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle school students; Original Paper; Public Health; Questionnaires; Religion; Religion and Psychology; Religious Studies; Secondary school students; Social Identification; Social networking; Social networks; Social Support; Students - psychology; Dominican Republic; Adolescent health; Alcohol abuse; Ethanol; Primary prevention; Health promotion; Church attendance; Religion; Social networks; Peer education; High school
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-012-9663-0

Excessive alcohol consumption increases the years of life lost to premature death and disability worldwide. Religion is a mitigating factor in alcohol consumption. A survey in the Dominican Republic showed increasing church attendance by middle and high school students (N = 3,478) was associated with a delay in age at first alcoholic drink, fewer students who had consumed alcohol in the past month (current drinkers), lower alcohol consumption levels, fewer episodes of inebriation, and less heavy episodic alcohol consumption (all P < 0.0001). The results suggested that it may be useful to conceive of church-attending youth as a subset of the adolescent social network when planning primary alcohol prevention programs for young people.