ABSTRACT
Objective: The current study examined prospective, bidirectional relationships between 3 measures of spirituality (Daily Spiritual Experiences, Positive Religious Coping, and Negative Religious Coping) and frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Participants: Three hundred ninety-one students attending a large, public university in the Midwest. Methods: Electronic surveys assessing predictors of college alcohol use were sent to participants in the winter of their freshman and sophomore years. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data. Results: A latent factor comprised of Daily Spiritual Experiences and Positive Religious Coping (ie, “positive spirituality”) was negatively related to future frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Negative Religious Coping was unrelated to heavy episodic drinking. Additionally, heavy episodic drinking did not prospectively predict any measures of spirituality. Conclusions: Data are supportive of continued efforts to integrate positive spirituality into interventions for collegiate heavy episodic drinking.
Conflict of interest disclosure
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Wayne State University.
Funding
This work was supported by a grant from the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation to Emily R. Grekin.