Religious Beliefs Linked to Decreased Drug Use

New research shows that adolescents with strong religious beliefs are less likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or use marijuana.
For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine interviewed 1,182 adolescents from a metropolitan area. The teens were surveyed four different times from 7th grade to 10th grade.The researchers found that adolescents who considered religion a meaningful part of their life and a way to cope with stress were half as likely to use drugs as those who didn’t find religion important.
“Besides offering coping techniques, being involved with religion can also create more healthy social networks than adolescents would have if they got involved with drugs to find social outlets, said Ashby Wills, Ph.D., one of three co-authors of the study.