Visiting scholar, Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.
Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute (WRHI), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
PLoS One. 2019 Feb 13;14(2):e0211322. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211322. eCollection 2019.
Alcohol and other drug use (AOD) and risky sexual behaviours remain high among adolescents in South Africa and globally. Religiosity influences, mitigates and provides resilience against engaging in risky behaviours among young people but few South African studies have explored potential associations between religiosity, AOD use and risky sex. We report the prevalence of religiosity and association between religiosity and AOD use and risky sexual behaviours among learners in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Between May and August 2011, a cross sectional survey was conducted among 20 227 learners from 240 public schools randomly selected through a stratified multistage sampling design to determine the prevalence of AOD use and sexual risk behaviours. We performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the association between religiosity, AOD use and risky sexual behaviours.
The learners were aged 10-23 years. Almost three quarters (74%) of learners reported high religiosity (defined as attending religious services or activities at least 1-2 times a month). More female than male learners had high religiosity. The prevalence of past 30 day reported alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use was 23%, 19% and 8% respectively. Compared to learners with low religiosity, those with high religiosity were less likely to engage in AOD use: specifically alcohol use, (AOR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.76-0.97), tobacco use (AOR = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.67-0.87), cannabis use (AOR = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.48-0.68) in the last 30 days. They were also less likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours (AOR = 0.90, 95%CI: 0.81-0.99).
Religiosity was associated with lower odds of reported AOD use and risky sexual behaviours among learners in the Western Cape. This calls for further exploration on how to incorporate religiosity into AOD use and risky sexual behaviour interventions.
在南非和全球范围内，青少年的酒精和其他药物使用（AOD）以及危险性行为仍然很高。宗教信仰会影响、减轻并为年轻人从事危险行为提供韧性，但很少有南非研究探讨宗教信仰、AOD 使用和危险性行为之间的潜在关联。我们报告了西开普省学习者的宗教信仰流行率以及宗教信仰与 AOD 使用和危险性行为之间的关联。
2011 年 5 月至 8 月，采用分层多阶段抽样设计，从 240 所公立学校中随机选择了 20227 名学习者，进行了一项横断面调查，以确定 AOD 使用和性风险行为的流行率。我们进行了单变量和多变量逻辑回归分析，以评估宗教信仰、AOD 使用和危险性行为之间的关联。
学习者的年龄为 10-23 岁。近四分之三（74%）的学习者报告高度宗教信仰（定义为每月至少参加宗教服务或活动 1-2 次）。女性学习者比男性学习者更有可能报告高度宗教信仰。过去 30 天报告的酒精、烟草和大麻使用率分别为 23%、19%和 8%。与低度宗教信仰的学习者相比，高度宗教信仰的学习者更不可能从事 AOD 使用：具体来说，在过去 30 天内，饮酒（AOR=0.86，95%CI：0.76-0.97）、吸烟（AOR=0.76，95%CI：0.67-0.87）和大麻使用（AOR=0.57，95%CI：0.48-0.68）的可能性较低。他们从事危险性行为的可能性也较低（AOR=0.90，95%CI：0.81-0.99）。
宗教信仰与西开普省学习者报告的 AOD 使用和危险性行为的可能性较低有关。这需要进一步探讨如何将宗教信仰纳入 AOD 使用和危险性行为干预措施。
