Contrasting the effects of harmonious and obsessive passion for religion on stress and drinking: Give me that old time religion … and a beer

Abstract

Religiousness has been a consistent protective factor against problem drinking. Religiousness is also positively related to some domains of mental health (Koenig, 2009). We propose that Vallerand and Houlfort's (2003) theory of passion, which includes two different approaches to any given activity, might offer a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between religiousness and alcohol use. The current study longitudinally assessed the relationships among harmonious and obsessive passion for religion, alcohol-related problems, and mental health. We hypothesized that the relationship between religious passion and problem drinking would be mediated by mental health as assessed by perceived stress and satisfaction with life. Participants included 707 college students (54.9% female) who were assessed at three time points at three month intervals. Mediation analyses revealed that harmonious passion for religious beliefs and practices was negatively associated with drinking problems through perceived stress, while obsessive passion for religious beliefs and practices was positively associated with drinking problems through perceived stress. Harmonious passion for religious beliefs and practices can be conducive to better mental health and less problematic alcohol use, while obsessive passion can have the opposite effect. This study provides a stepping-stone for future research into the effects of harmonious and obsessive passion for religious beliefs and practices in the context of addictive behaviors.

Following Pauline advice? A short note on moderate alcohol consumption and subjective well‐being in Europe

“…We control for potential endogeneity between life satisfaction and drinking based on the model developed in Rousselière et al (2022). Following previous research such as Tomkins et al (2019), abstinence is therefore instrumented using standard instrumental variable such as religion. Apparent alcohol consumption and price of alcohol are included in both equations to control for structural and sampling zeros (null consumption).…”

A few drinks behind—Alcohol price and income elasticities in Europe: A microeconometric note

“…An instrumental variable may be chosen for both theoretical and empirical reasons. As an instrumental variable, following Baena et al, (2019) and Tomkins et al, (2019), we use the religious affiliation. These authors show that there is a connection between religious affiliation, religiosity and the probability of never consuming alcohol without having a direct effect on the level of consumption (conditional on the probability of consumption).…”

“Consumed by creed”: Obsessive‐compulsive symptoms underpin ideological obsession and support for political violence

“…Recent studies highlight correlations between depression and radical attitudes among both general population and radicalized samples (e.g., terrorists; Rousseau et al, 2019; Trimbur et al, 2021), whereas mounting evidence suggests a link between mental health symptoms at the subclinical level and radical attitudes (for a discussion, see Gøtzsche‐Astrup & Lindekilde, 2019; Misiak et al, 2019). Therefore, it is plausible that depression may be linked to radical attitudes (Angelakis et al, 2015; Forest et al, 2011; Tomkins et al, 2019), simply because it is comorbid with both OCD and OP (Bélanger, Raafat, et al, 2020; Toledano et al, 2020).…”