Religion and Initiation into Marijuana Use: The Deterring Role of Religious Friends

Abstract

Over the last two decades researchers have begun to look at how personal religious beliefs and behaviors influence substance use, finding that more religious teens are less likely to drink, smoke, and use illegal drugs. This study builds on this previous research, combining it with work on religious contextual effects to develop a theoretical model that explains why friends' religion would influence teens' marijuana use, even if teens are not personally religious. Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines whether individual and friends' religiosity (e.g., religious participation and importance) or born-again identity influence marijuana initiation. Individual and friends' born-again identity appear to independently influence marijuana initiation, which is not significantly mediated by the proportion of in-school friends who have tried marijuana. Findings offer support for the role of micro religious contexts for explaining illegal substance use.