The Influence of Religious Affiliation on Sociocultural Predictors of Drinking among Black and White Americans

Abstract

Although religious denominations have been shown to affect the drinking behavior of their members, few studies have examined this topic among Black Americans. The following study explored whether a model predicting drinking from religious denominations through a series of intervening cognitive and social variables (drinking attitudes and norms, social contexts, social networks, and home use of alcohol) would be the same for Blacks and Whites. The results showed that there are a number of racial differences in how religious background influences intervening social characteristics, but few in the predictors of drinking behavior. Many significant racial differences were observed among Baptists, a moderate number among Catholics, and few or none were observed for Conservative Protestants and Methodists.

Key Words:

• Drinking patterns
• Religious affiliation
• Racial differences
• Drinking contexts
• Drinking attitudes