RESEARCH QUESTION
Religiousness seems to play a part when it comes to an individual’s drinking behavior. This study aims to discover the association between these two variables by answering this question: Does religiosity influence individuals’ decisions to abstain from or engage in alcohol consumption?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Alcohol consumption is a normalized social burden that affects more than the consumers’ health. Affecting entire societies, alcohol has been associated with the increase of accidents, violence, and economic costs. Sought after for its effects on the body, alcohol remains one of the most popular and legal drugs around the world. Its use is highly accepted by society and often serves to enhance social interactions among many cultures. While its use is a standard practice for society, it is considered a challenging subject in a religious context. Many religions prohibit or limit their consumption. It is reasonable to assume that communities with strong religious ties will be less inclined to alcohol consumption and therefore have fewer accidents and acts of violence. Researchers have studied this phenomenon, discovering a relationship between religiosity and alcohol consumption. Understanding the relationship between these two can influence prevention strategies to help combat the issue.
Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 178,000 lives annually (Ofei-DoDoo et al., 2025). The number includes deaths directly caused by alcohol consumption as well as indirect deaths, like motor vehicle accidents and violent incidents. The estimated cost to the nation from this problem was $249 billion in 2010 alone (Sacks et al., 2015). The enormous figures have caused concern and a need for change. Changing policies would imply an economic change in the alcohol industry, something many companies oppose as they profit from alcohol consumption.
As policy change remains difficult to implement, some have turned to religion as an alternative influence. While some religions may incorporate the consumption of alcohol in their rituals, others completely abstain from it. It is important to note that the inclusion of alcohol does not condone excessive consumption. In fact, a similarity shared among faiths is the teaching against alcohol abuse in religious groups.
Using data from the 2000 National Alcohol Survey (NAS), researchers Michalak, Trocki, and Bond (2007) investigated the role of religion in alcohol abstinence. The survey included three variables involving religion: religiosity, because an individuals’ behavior can’t be affected by religion if they do not consider it important; religious preference, because denominations have their own norms, especially when it involves alcohol; proscription, since the perception of what the religion teaches about alcohol may not be uniformly shared by its members (Michalak et al., 2007). The variable involving alcohol consumption was measured using four drinking categories: current abstainers, those who have not had alcohol in the past year; moderate drinkers, those who have not had five or more drinks on any occasion in the past year; occasional heavy drinkers, those who have had five or more drinks but not as often as once a week; frequent heavy drinkers, those who consume five or more drinks once a week or more (Michalak et al., 2007).
The data collected showed that those who were more religious were also more prescriptive and less likely to consume alcohol heavily. The researchers found that religion is a strong factor in abstention from alcohol. In another study using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), researchers found that Utah ranked last for substance use among adolescents, suggesting a connection to its high levels of religiosity (Moss et al., 2018).
Alcohol has more adverse effects than benefits, but individuals continue to choose its overconsumption regardless of consequences. Perhaps the existence of alcohol is not the issue; instead, our ability to control our intake is. The control of alcohol consumption has been an issue for many years. The few changes in policies have not deterred the use or minimized the consumption. Studies have shown that religion has a significant impact on alcohol consumption, lowering its use among religious followers. The issue surrounding alcohol is massive, claiming many lives and costing billions of dollars annually. There needs to be more than one approach to fight against it. Religion is not the solution, but merely one approach to help individuals not fall into a vicious cycle.
METHODS
Data
The data come from the Crime, Health, and Intimate Partner Problems Survey (CHIPPS), a cross-sectional probability sample of St. Mary’s University undergraduate students (n = 250) designed to analyze differences in partner violence and religion. Students were randomly chosen via their student email. The survey was then disseminated via email so that participants could complete it on their computer or mobile device. Respondents were offered a $10 gift card to participate in the survey. Data was collected between Spring 2024 and Spring 2025
Measures
Focal Variables
Drinking Habit. To explore initial attitudes toward drinking habits, respondents were asked “In the past 12 months, how often did you usually have at least one drink?” Answer options ranged from “Nearly every day” = 0 to “Less than once a month” = 4. The variable options were then combined to reflect “1-2 days per week or more” = 1 and “1-2 days per month or less” = 2.
Religiosity. To gauge how religious respondents felt, an ordinal question asking about religiousness was used. This question asked, “How religious are you?” Respondents could choose “Not religious” = 0, “Slightly religious” = 1, “Moderately religious” = 2, and “Very religious” = 3.
Table 1. Bivariate Analysis: CHIPPS, 2024-2025
| Religiosity | Total | test | ||||
| Not religious | Slightly religious | Moderate religious | Very religious | |||
| Drinking Habit | p value: 0.4690 (Pearson’s Chi-squared test) |
|||||
| 1-2 days per week or more | 8 (20.51%) | 22 (27.50%) | 30 (32.61%) | 9 (23.08%) | 69 (27.60%) | |
| 1-2 days per month or less | 31 (79.49%) | 58 (72.50%) | 62 (67.39%) | 30 (76.92%) | 181 (72.40%) | |
| Total | 39 (15.60%) | 80 (32.00%) | 92 (36.80%) | 39 (15.60%) | 250 (100.00%) | |
RESULTS
Table 1 displays a bivariate analysis of the sample’s drinking behaviors, based on the level of religiousness. The chi-square test (p ≤ .49) indicates that there is no significant association between religiousness and drinking habits. Therefore, I fail to reject the null hypothesis.
CONCLUSION
An association between religiousness and alcohol behaviors could not be established in this study, but it is important to recognize the limitations of the study and the possible effects on the results. The study was conducted at a small private university where students are more susceptible to being influenced by their peers than by their personal religious beliefs. The chi-square test results showed that the differences in drinking behavior across levels of religiousness were not meaningful enough to suggest a clear pattern. Another possible explanation may be bias in the self-reported data or underreporting. Further detailed research could potentially show a different result. Understanding the behaviors behind alcohol consumption may expose a way to tackle this issue before it progresses.
REFERENCES
Michalak, L., Trocki, K., & Bond, J. (2007). Religion and alcohol in the US National Alcohol Survey: how important is religion for abstention and drinking?. Drug and alcohol dependence, 87(2-3), 268-280.
Moss JL, Liu B, Zhu L. State Prevalence and Ranks of Adolescent Substance Use: Implications for Cancer Prevention. Prev Chronic Dis. 2018 May 31;15:E69. doi: 10.5888/pcd15.170345. PMID: 29862962; PMCID: PMC5985915.
Ofei-DoDoo, S., Okut, H., & Dogbey, J. K. (2025). Public awareness of risks associated with alcohol drinking in the US: a population-based cross-sectional survey study. Kansas Journal of Medicine, 18(5), 104.
Sacks, J. J., Gonzales, K. R., Bouchery, E. E., Tomedi, L. E., & Brewer, R. D. (2015). 2010 national and state costs of excessive alcohol consumption. American journal of preventive medicine, 49(5), e73-e79.
