Why Adventist youth do(n't) use drugs
by Robert J. Cruise, Roger Dudley and Patricia B. Mutch
AUDIO IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR THIS ARTICLE
How many Seventh-day Adventist youth are using drugs? What drugs are they using? And what influences have been most effective in encouraging them either to use or to abstain from drugs? Believing that the answers to these questions are important to the future of the church, in 1985 Andrews University's Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency collaborated on a major research project with the Institute of Church Ministry located on the same campus.
Among our findings: Few Adventist youth currently use narcotics or street drugs, but 8 percent admit they are using tobacco; 12 percent, alcohol (17 percent of college-age Adventist youth); and two-thirds use caffeine-containing beverages or pills.
Our study surveyed United States and Canadian youth (ages 12 to 24) in 73 randomly selected Adventist churches. We asked the pastor or a designated coordinator to distribute to each youth a questionnaire and a stamped envelope addressed to the Institute of Church Ministry. (The direct mailing protected the anonymity of the youth respondents.)
Eight hundred one youth responded to the survey, representing 57 percent of the questionnaires distributed. Since the questionnaires likely reached a disproportionate number of those who attend church regularly, we think the survey sample probably favors those less likely to use alcohol and drugs so the survey may underestimate actual usage among Adventist youth. The sample is weighted in favor of the younger ages (40 percent were 14-17 years old; 25 percent, 12-13; and the rest, older), and the majority of respondents were Caucasian. Most of the respondents (81 percent) reported that they were baptized Adventists, and about an equal number were in Adventist schools as were in public schools (41 percent and 42 percent, respectively, with 17 percent not attending school).
Table 1 shows that alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine pose the strongest temptations to Adventist youth. The consistently high usage of caffeine among all subgroups (see Table 2) suggests that most Adventist youth do not consider caffeine a drug of concern.
Table 2 presents a summary profile of past and present use of the most commonly used drugs by several subgroupings. As might be expected, we found that the older groups of respondents reported higher past usage of alcohol (Figure A). Among youth in the college-age group (18-23), 35 percent reported past social or regular alcohol use. But in the group aged 24 or older, total social and regular past usage was 51 percent. Although considerably fewer report present than past usage, the degree of reliability on present-use data is unknown because of factors favoring underestimation. The respondents may have believed it safer to report past than present usage. Youth of college age reported the greatest present use of alcohol, 17 percent.
We evaluated, as to their protective effect, baptismal status and attendance in Adventist schools. Being a baptized member does not appear to provide any major protection against drug involvement. However, attending an Adventist school played a role in discouraging the use of every drug except caffeine (Figure B). Youth no longer in school admit the greatest past involvement with alcohol (47 percent). The age of this group may explain this statistic.
Is participation in religious experiences protective? A substantial number of youth (71-76 percent) report regular attendance at Sabbath services. And nearly half regularly engage in personal prayer, but other personal religious activities were remarkably low. When we compared the frequency of participation with the level of drug use, by statistical analysis, we found religious experiences to be highly protective (Table 3). Marijuana usage appears to follow a different pattern than that of alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine. Adventist youths' low participation in such experiences as reading the writings of Ellen G. White, reading Adventist magazines, and temperance-related activities may have limited their potential protective value. We cannot, from our data, evaluate these for their protective effect.
For each drug studied, our statistical analyses revealed family worship as the experience most highly predictive for low drug use. When we combined all past drug use, the four religious experiences that appeared to be most protective were family worship, participation in temperance contests, witnessing, and attendance at Sabbath school (Table 4). The findings on present drug usage differed among various drugs. Again, however, for all drugs combined, family worship was the most important variable related to low present use. The second most important predictor was attendance at church-sponsored social events, and personal prayer ranked third.
More important than learning about the prevalence of drug use among Adventist youth is discovering the reasons youth cite for using or for abstaining from drugs. Such information can assist us in developing programs that more effectively promote a drug-free lifestyle.
Figures C and D show the reasons Adventist youth gave as having "a great deal of influence" on their choices to use or not to use drugs. They reported most frequently that they used drugs "to enjoy a good time with my friends" and because of curiosity. The reason ranked third was related to peer influence: "to go along with what my friends are doing." These findings suggest that for many youth, social factors are persuasive. In response to a question as to who introduced them to drugs, 65 percent of drug users identified another teenager as responsible. However, family members are not unimportant; 27 percent said a sibling or other family member started them on drugs.
Three reasons led the way in having "a great deal of influence" on youth for abstaining from or quitting drug use: "I want to be in control of my life" (69 percent), "concern for my health" (68 percent), and "my commitment to Christ" (63 percent). Concern about the future they will have also provides motivation, but legal or parental threats, rules, and expense appear to have less influence. Surprisingly, the influence of abstaining friends appears to be the weakest factor of all. Perhaps abstaining has less visibility among peers than it deserves.
How do these findings compare with statistics on drug use among youth outside the Adventist community of faith? Adventist students have a much lower reported incidence of use than national averages. * This encouraging conclusion probably reflects the many influences that socialize Adventist youth to a proabstinence choice, as well as the protective effect of personal religious commitment.
Nevertheless, to a church that stands for a drug-free lifestyle, the prevalence of drug use reported here is sobering and cause for significant concern. Few challenges to the integrity and future of the church can equal those of the health-and-soul-destroying effects of drug use among its youth. The church cannot afford to deny that its youth are deciding to experiment with and use various drugs socially, including the "gateway" drug caffeine. Such denial would only allow the present incidence to increase and gain momentum until the abstinent youth would be the exceptional youth—as has happened in many other religious organizations.
Drug use is challenging our entire church. We cannot assign the responsibility for dealing with it to any one institution or program; rather, the whole church must share in the effort.