The association between religiosity and alcohol use: the mediating role of meaning in life and media exposure

We examined whether meaning in life and exposure to media mediate the association between religiosity and alcohol use among members of the Jewish-orthodox community in Israel. One hundred and ten young adult men self-identified as orthodox (n = 57) or secular (n = 53) participated in the study. Part...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mental health, religion & culture
Authors: Nakash, Ora (Author) ; Nagar, Maayan (Author) ; Barker, Yaara (Author) ; Lotan, Dafna (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2016
In: Mental health, religion & culture
Further subjects:B media exposure
B Israel
B Religiosity
B meaning in life
B Alcohol use
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:We examined whether meaning in life and exposure to media mediate the association between religiosity and alcohol use among members of the Jewish-orthodox community in Israel. One hundred and ten young adult men self-identified as orthodox (n = 57) or secular (n = 53) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report measures designed to assess meaning in life, media exposure, alcohol use, and craving. Our findings show that orthodox participants consumed less alcohol and reported less alcohol craving compared to their secular counterparts. Importantly, search for meaning in life and media exposure mediated the relationship between religiosity and alcohol craving. Our findings suggest that religion provides a sense of meaning that serves as a protective factor against alcohol craving, supporting existential theories. Furthermore, our studies show that practices that are associated with a religious lifestyle such as low exposure to mass media also serve as protective factors for alcohol use and craving.
ISSN:1469-9737
Contains:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2016.1217515