Knowledge and experience of drug use amongst church affiliated young people

A large and growing proportion of young people in the UK are using drugs. Research from the US suggests a protective effect of church affiliation or 'religiosity', but this has not been investigated in British young people. In the present study, the prevalence of drug use was estimated amongst 7666 church affiliated young people in the UK in 1995, using a self report questionnaire survey. In the 12-16 year old age group, 23.4% had been offered at least one of a list of drugs, and 9.7% had tried such drugs. In those aged 17-30 years the figures were 46.1% and 23.3%, respectively. These figures are perhaps slightly less than, those obtained in secular surveys. Those who gave more positive responses to questions on Christian commitment were less likely to have been offered any of the listed drugs, or to have used them, as compared with those who gave no such responses. A lifetime history of ever having smoked demonstrated a far stronger association, with smokers being 15-20 times more likely to have used one of the listed drugs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.