Rostosky Sharon S, Danner Fred, Riggle Ellen D B
Department of Political Science and Women and Gender Studies, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0017, USA.
J Adolesc Health. 2007 May;40(5):440-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.11.144. Epub 2007 Feb 15.
Previous research has documented that substance use peaks during young adulthood and that religiosity provides a protective effect against binge drinking, marijuana use, and cigarette smoking. The majority of these studies do not examine sexual identity as it relates to these factors. Drawing on social influence and developmental theories, we tested the hypothesis that religiosity would provide a protective effect for heterosexual but not sexual minority young adults.
Waves 1 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provided data for the study. Three young adult sexual identity groups were formed: sexual minorities who did not report same-sex attraction at Wave 1 (NA), sexual minorities who did report same-sex attraction at Wave 1 (SSA), and heterosexuals (HET) (sample n = 764).
Religiosity measured at baseline had no significant effect on past-year substance use, measured six years later in sexual minority young adults. For heterosexual young adults, each unit increase in religiosity reduced the odds of binge drinking by 9%, marijuana use by 20%, and cigarette smoking by 13%.
Religiosity was not protective against substance use in sexual minority young adults, cautioning against over-generalizing previous findings about the protective effects of religiosity. Future studies that 1) consider the social context for sexual identity development, 2) model both risk and protective factors, and 3) use multidimensional measures of religiosity (and spirituality) and sexual identity are needed to build the necessary knowledge base for effective health promotion efforts among sexual minority youth and young adults.
先前的研究表明，物质使用在青年期达到峰值，并且宗教信仰对酗酒、吸食大麻和吸烟具有保护作用。这些研究大多未考察性取向与这些因素之间的关系。基于社会影响和发展理论，我们检验了以下假设：宗教信仰对异性恋青年成人具有保护作用，但对性少数群体青年成人则不然。
青少年健康全国纵向研究的第1波和第3波数据为该研究提供了资料。形成了三个青年成性取向群体：在第1波未报告有同性吸引的性少数群体（无同性吸引）、在第1波报告有同性吸引的性少数群体（有同性吸引）和异性恋者（异性恋）（样本n = 764）。
基线时测量的宗教信仰对六年后测量的性少数群体青年成人过去一年的物质使用没有显著影响。对于异性恋青年成人，宗教信仰每增加一个单位，酗酒的几率降低9%，吸食大麻的几率降低20%，吸烟的几率降低13%。
宗教信仰对性少数群体青年成人的物质使用没有保护作用，这警示我们不要对先前关于宗教信仰保护作用的研究结果进行过度概括。未来的研究需要1）考虑性取向发展的社会背景，2）对风险因素和保护因素进行建模，3）使用宗教信仰（和精神性）以及性取向的多维测量方法，以便为性少数群体青少年和青年成人开展有效的健康促进工作建立必要的知识库。
