Substance use: Spirituality and religious participation as protective factors among rural youths

This study explored the relationship between substance use and spirituality and religious participation with a multicultural sample of rural youths in the American Southwest. Logistic regression was used to determine the efficacy of spirituality and religious participation as predictors of never using alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs. Although increased participation in religious activities predicted greater probability of never using alcohol, increased spirituality predicted greater probability of never using marijuana and hard drugs. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for prevention programs, social work education, and research.