Maternal Religiosity, Adolescent Social Bonding, and Adolescent Alcohol Use

Abstract

This study tested two hypotheses: (a) that maternal religiosity would predict adolescent alcohol use and (b) that the relation between maternal religiosity and adolescent alcohol use would be mediated by the three Hirschi control theory elements (attachment, belief in conventional rules, and commitment to conventional activities). Panel data were used from a probability sample of 1,553 adolescents who were 12 through 14 years of age. Maternal religiosity was predictive negatively of alcohol use by adolescents. Maternal religious attendance was more predictive than was maternal religious importance. The association between maternal religiosity and adolescent alcohol use was not explained by race, gender, or age of the adolescent; maternal education, maternal religious denomination, or maternal cigarette smoking status; family structure; or the number of friends who smoke cigarettes; or by the elements of the Hirschi control theory. It appears that maternal religiosity had an effect on adolescent alcohol use through mechanisms other than those tested in the study.