@article{ref1,
title="Are there gender, racial, or religious denominational differences in religiosity's effect on alcohol use and binge drinking among youth in the United States? A propensity score weighting approach",
journal="Substance use and misuse",
year="2019",
author="Hai, Audrey Hang",
volume="54",
number="7",
pages="1096-1105",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Alcohol use/misuse is a prevalent health issue among youth and may lead to adverse consequences. Religiosity has been identified as a protective factor against alcohol use/misuse among youth. Identifying moderators in the religiosity-alcohol relationship has important implications for intervention development. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine whether gender, race, or religious denomination moderate the religiosity-alcohol relationship. <br><br>METHOD: This study overcame previous studies' limitations by using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample and robust analytical methods (N = 1969). This study used the propensity score weighting method to control for a large number of confounders. Propensity score weights were estimated using Generalized Boosted Models. <br><br>RESULTS: Findings indicate that gender and religious denomination might not moderate the religiosity-alcohol relationship, whereas racial difference was present. Among White youth, religiosity was found to have a buffering effect against alcohol use (average treatment effect [ATE] = -0.57, CI<sub>.</sub><sub>95</sub> = -0.83, -0.32) and binge drinking (ATE = 0.54, CI<sub>.</sub><sub>95</sub> = 0.38, 0.71). However, among non-White youth, religiosity was not found to have an effect on alcohol use (ATE = 0.08, CI<sub>.</sub><sub>95</sub> = -0.31, 0.47) or binge drinking (ATE = 1.07, CI<sub>.</sub><sub>95</sub> = 0.68, 1.64). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that preventions/interventions of youth alcohol involvement that are religiously based may not need to adapt their efforts based on youth's gender or religious denominations. More importantly, when addressing alcohol use/misuse issue among White American youth, religious and faith-based organizations, youth religious group leaders, and clergy should be included in the prevention/intervention efforts.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1082-6084",
doi="10.1080/10826084.2018.1555598",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2018.1555598"
}