Being religious could help teenagers resist alcohol, even if they have a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism, according to a new study from the University of Colorado. However, this effect does not carry over into young adulthood.

Dr. Tanya Button studied 1432 pairs of identical and fraternal twins when they were adolescents and young adults, measuring their religiosity and problem alcohol abuse.

"Our study showed that genetic factors could influence problem alcohol use more in nonreligious adolescents than adolescents with a greater religious outlook," said Dr. Button. "This attenuation in religious participants indicates that religiosity exerted a strong enough influence over the behavior of religious individuals to override any genetic predisposition. The same was not true for young adults, however, for whom the genetic influence was consistent across levels of religiosity."

The study appeared in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
 

Labels: prevention, alcohol_abuse, alcohol, religion

Posted By: Jane St. Clair