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. 2015 Oct;44(10):1968-83.
doi: 10.1007/s10964-015-0302-4. Epub 2015 May 15.

Religiousness and Levels of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis

Peter J Jankowski  1 , Sam A Hardy, Byron L Zamboanga, Lindsay S Ham, Seth J Schwartz, Su Yeong Kim, Larry F Forthun, Melina M Bersamin, Roxanne A Donovan, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Eric A Hurley, Miguel Ángel Cano
Affiliations

Religiousness and Levels of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis

Peter J Jankowski et al. J Youth Adolesc. 2015 Oct.

Abstract

Prior person-centered research has consistently identified a subgroup of highly religious participants that uses significantly less alcohol when compared to the other subgroups. The construct of religious motivation is absent from existing examinations of the nuanced combinations of religiousness dimensions within persons, and alcohol expectancy valuations have yet to be included as outcome variables. Variable-centered approaches have found religious motivation and alcohol expectancy valuations to play a protective role against individuals' hazardous alcohol use. The current study examined latent religiousness profiles and hazardous alcohol use in a large, multisite sample of ethnically diverse college students. The sample consisted of 7412 college students aged 18-25 (M age = 19.77, SD age = 1.61; 75% female; 61% European American). Three latent profiles were derived from measures of religious involvement, salience, and religious motivations: Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness (highest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; lowest level of extrinsic motivation), Moderate Religiousness (intermediate levels of salience, involvement, and motivations) and Extrinsic Religiousness (lowest levels of salience, involvement, and quest and intrinsic motivations; highest level of extrinsic motivation). The Quest-Intrinsic Religiousness profile scored significantly lower on hazardous alcohol use, positive expectancy outcomes, positive expectancy valuations, and negative expectancy valuations, and significantly higher on negative expectancy outcomes, compared to the other two profiles. The Extrinsic and Moderate Religiousness profiles did not differ significantly on positive expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy outcomes, negative expectancy valuations, or hazardous alcohol use. The results advance existing research by demonstrating that the protective influence of religiousness on college students' hazardous alcohol use may involve high levels on both quest and intrinsic religious motivation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Religiousness class profile plots for indicator variables. Note: Extrinsic class n = 1808; moderate class n = 3864; quest-intrinsic class n = 1740. Values are z-scores based on the mean and standard deviation of the means for each variable
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Plots across religiousness classes for distal outcome variables. Note: Extrinsic class n = 1808; moderate class n = 3864; quest-intrinsic religiousness class n = 1740. Values are z-scores based on the mean and standard deviation of the means for each variable
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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