Religion/spirituality, risk, and the development of alcohol dependence in female twins.

Abstract

The contention that Religion/Spirituality (R/S) influences the development of alcohol dependence (AD) is increasingly supported, but risk factors have not been adequately examined together with protective R/S factors so as to determine the nature and relative strength of these domains at different stages in the development of alcoholism. Secondary data analysis of a sample of 4,002 young adult female twins used conditional Cox proportional hazards survival models to examine three distinct stages in the development of alcoholism: years to initiation of drinking, years from first drink to at-risk drinking, and years from at-risk drinking to AD. Risk and protective factors from models of alcoholism etiology and studies of R/S dimensionality were modeled simultaneously as predictors of each discrete stage and compared. Findings demonstrated that both risk factors and R/S variables influenced initiation of alcohol use; only R/S variables influenced subsequent progression to at-risk drinking; and risk factors primarily influenced further progression to AD. Protective factors (R/S variables being an exemplar) appeared to be critical determinants of intermediate-stage progression, thus suggesting that R/S factors and other psychosocial interventions might be particularly effective in delaying progression toward AD at this stage. In contrast, after the onset of at-risk drinking, the influence of (genetically based) risk factors appeared to accelerate AD regardless of most other influences. Thus, the timing of psychosocial interventions appears critical to their potency and impact.

Psychosocial moderation of polygenic risk for cannabis involvement: the role of trauma exposure and frequency of religious service attendance

“…For example, religious service attendance provides both interpersonal and community social support that may serve to increase resiliency and limit expression of genetic propensity to cannabis use. In addition, protective effects of religion may be mediated by the degree to which specific religions foster restrictive social norms and attitudes regarding substance use 49 . In this study, 12.6% of participants reported that they affiliated with a religion that had rules forbidding alcohol use; these participants were most likely to identify as Christian (broadly), followed by Protestant or Fundamentalist Protestant and Buddhist.…”

Investigating the interlinkages of alcohol use and misuse, spirituality and culture – Insights from a systematic review

“…As noted earlier, there is also evidence that religiousness/spirituality may act as an important preventive factor to alcohol consumption and related problems in the general population (Haber et al, 2013;Jankowski et al, 2013). Inevitably this appears to be the case among minorities.…”

Genospirituality: Our Beliefs, Our Genomes, and Addictions

“…Similar but non-significant effects were observed for males. Most interestingly, recent evidence from the work of Haber et al [ 71 ] underscores the role of religious/spirituality (RS) as a particular risk factor for the alcohol dependence (AD) especially at the initiation phase, However, after drinking has begun it is genetic influences that maintain AD not RS as much. This work does support the early intervention of spirituality in families with a history of alcoholism.…”