The Moral Community Divide: Underage Marijuana Use Across Religious Contexts

Compared to individual-level research on religion and marijuana use, much less research has been conducted to investigate how the overall religious context of a geographic location may influence marijuana use during adolescence and early adulthood. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the Natio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the scientific study of religion
Authors: Nie, Fanhao (Author) ; Yang, Xiaozhao Yousef (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2019]
In: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B USA / Teenagers (13-18 Jahre) / Marihuana / Religiosity / Catholicism / Morals / Influence
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AE Psychology of religion
AG Religious life; material religion
NCC Social ethics
Further subjects:B Marijuana use
B Young adults
B Religious Context
B Adolescents
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Compared to individual-level research on religion and marijuana use, much less research has been conducted to investigate how the overall religious context of a geographic location may influence marijuana use during adolescence and early adulthood. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county-level variables from the U.S. Census and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), this study finds that a county's higher Catholic population share is negatively associated with underage marijuana use frequency even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county-level variables. Besides being robust, the Catholic contextual effect on marijuana use is also diffusive, influencing both Catholic and non-Catholic youth who live in the same county. This study highlights the importance of viewing religious influence on substance use as a contextual, cultural force across different kinds of religious moral communities.
ISSN:1468-5906
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12577