Religious Context of Parenting &Youth Drinking Behavior

Westat, Inc., Rockville MD

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Personal religiosity has been identified as a protective factor against adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. What is less known is how religious context of parenting affects the drinking behavior of adolescents. Religious context of parenting refers to parental religiosity, parental religious preference, and time parents and children spent together in religious activities. Prior research has indicated that parental religiosity and family involvement in religious activities may foster positive family processes that operate as protective factors inhibiting adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. The interrelationships among religious context of parenting, family processes and adolescent drinking behavior have not, however, been tested using large-scale data. This study is an attempt to fill this gap in research on adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. The goal of the proposed research is twofold. First, it investigates how religious context of parenting affects parent-child relationship, parenting practices, and adolescent alcohol use and misuse. Second, it examines how family process variables mediate the relationship between religious context of parenting and adolescent drinking behavior. The central question addressed in this study is whether and how religious context of parenting affects adolescent use and misuse of alcohol. The findings of this study will be presented at a national or international conference such as the annual meeting of American Sociological Association. Furthermore, one or more research articles based on this study will be submitted to high-quality professional journals for publication. The dataset used for this research is the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), a multi-wave survey sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor. Structural equation models will be constructed to test the direct effect and indirect effects (through family processes) of religious context of parenting on adolescent use and misuse of alcohol.