What is it about?
Alcohol and other drug use and risky sexual behavior remain high among adolescents across the globe. The question we set out to answer was: is the frequency of engaging in religious activities and events – what we call religiosity – associated with these kinds of behaviors?
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Why is it important?
One way religiosity is thought to influence positive health outcomes or behaviors is by imparting meaning, purpose in life, and peace of mind to individuals. Our findings support a systematic review of religiosity, spirituality, and health which suggested that there’s a link between higher religious or spiritual beliefs and positive health behaviors. It looked at original research published in peer-reviewed journals between 1872 and 2010. Religiosity also involves interaction and cohesion within groups where the social or religious norms typically discourage engaging in behaviors that may be harmful or risky for health (such as avoiding drugs and alcohol) or may be considered to be morally unacceptable, such as sex before marriage.
Perspectives
Our study calls for further exploration of how religious practice could serve as one platform (among others) for alcohol, drug use, and risky sexual behavior interventions for young people. A starting point could be to borrow a leaf from a faith-based HIV prevention intervention in the US. The program involved a number of activities that church leaders could choose from. These include getting trained to foster an environment in which young people can more openly talk about HIV and sexually transmitted infections.
Prof Joel Msafiri Francis
University of the Witwatersrand
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The prevalence of religiosity and association between religiosity and alcohol use, other drug use, and risky sexual behaviours among grade 8-10 learners in Western Cape, South Africa, PLoS ONE, February 2019, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211322.
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