A new study, which will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that young adults with a religious upbringing are more likely to refrain from problem alcohol use than their non-religious counterparts during adolescence, even if they are predisposed to developing alcohol dependence.
The study, conducted at the Institute of Behavioral Genetics, sought to determine whether religiosity had any influence over the genetic variance of problem alcohol use in both men and women by measuring their level of religious practice and alcohol consumption at two different points in their lives.
Participants included 691 sets of both male- and female-paired identical twins, 466 sets of both male- and female-paired fraternal twins, and 275 sets of opposite sex-paired fraternal twins. Both MZ twins (who share 100% of their DNA) and DZ twins (who share 50% of their DNA) were included in the study to consider the outcome of differing genetic variances. As a result, the greater religious involvement the participants had during adolescence, the lower their risk of alcohol abuse. Religiosity helped prevent these individuals from engaging in problem drinking behavior during adolescence, and was even able to persevere over their alcoholic predispositions. Participants with less religious outlooks were more at risk of their predisposed genes.
However, the religious trend was not factor during adulthood, as the results demonstrated that religiosity did not affect the genetic variance of problem alcohol use once participants became older. The data was the same for both men and women.
The researchers conclude that the reduced genetic variance for problem drinking behavior during adolescence may be the result of greater moral and social control at that point in their lives, whereas individuals tend to experience fewer moral influences during young adulthood.
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