Sociological Forum, Vol. 17, No.

2, June 2002 ( C 2002)

Between Sacral Belief and Moral Community: A Multidimensional Approach to the Relationship Between Religion and Alcohol Among Whites and Blacks1
Julie Ford2,4 and Charles Kadushin3

This study explores the conditions under which two dimensions of religion rst specied by Durkheim (1995), the normative and the integrative, may be related to a particular aspect of alcohol use among white and black adults. The analysis compares those denominations that oppose the use of alcohol to those that do not, while simultaneously examining the effects of the relative strength of the commitment to the religious community on the risk for dependency. Because a substantially large sample drawn from 41 mid-sized cities nationwide is employed, the study is able to expand the set of denominations considered, and, more importantly, to conduct a more rened analysis of differences between black and white respondents than is typically possible. The ndings indicate that although effects due to religious denomination are certainly a factor in the risk for dependency, this is much more so the case among whites than among blacks. By contrast, among blacks, frequency of church attendance, a measure of integration, is a more powerful predictor of risk than it is for whites. These results suggest that to more fully comprehend the manner in which alcohol use and religion are linked, especially in the black community, the organizational nature of the churchand not solely

1 A preliminary version of this paper was presented by the junior author to a Festschrift in honor

of Samuel Klausner at the University of Pennsylvania in October 1997. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA. 2 Medical Health and Research Association of New York City, Inc., 40 Worth St, New York, NY 10013. 3 Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. 4 To whom correspondence should be addressed; e-mail: jford@bestweb.net. 255
0884-8971/02/0600-0255/0
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2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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its denominationneeds to be considered in the attempt to assess the risk of alcohol dependency.
KEY WORDS: religion; alcohol; race/ethnicity.

Social scientists have devoted considerable energy to analyzing the myriad relationships between religion and alcohol use. However, although numerous studies have indicated that the role of the church in the lives of black congregants is often different than it is in those of whites with respect to the services offered (Chaves and Higgins, 1992) and the nature of interactions characteristic of the institution (Pattillo-McCoy, 1998), little attention has been given to the way in which the relationship between religion and alcohol consumption may be contingent upon race. Overconsumption of alcohol is a major health concern in the United States. Moreover, religious denominations take differing stances toward the use of alcohol. This paper therefore examines patterns of risk for alcohol dependency by denomination and frequency of church attendance and explores whether these patterns vary for blacks and whites. We argue that denomination and frequency of attendance can be seen as measures of two different dimensions of religionthe normative and the integrative aspectseither or both of which may be related to alcohol use. Furthermore, we propose that the salience of these two dimensions may be different for the two groups with respect to the risk for alcohol dependency, and that these differences stem, in part, from the distinctive traditions of their respective churches. The purpose of this paper, then, is to bring together two existing bodies of research by attending to the multiple sociological functions of religion, while simultaneously examining the variations of these functions across the two groups. Almost a century ago, Durkheim provided a multidimensional denition of religion: [a] religion is a set of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things . . . beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them (1995:44). According to this famous account, religion entails both a commitment to collectively binding norms and the afrmation of membership within the social group. Durkheim clamped these two constitutive elements together tightly, and his study sought to establish both the nature and direction of their relations.5 In this study we seek to retain his denition. However, we also propose that the two elements can, to some extent, be detached from each other and allowed to vary independently.
5 In Durkheims view, the ritual practices of the cultic community are related to moral norms both

expressively and causally: [ritual] movements symbolize those [collective] representations only because they have helped to form them (1995:232; our additions; see also 418ff.).

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BACKGROUND One of the most important aspects of Durkheims account was the claim that a distinction between the sacred and the profane constitutes a key feature of religion. Religion involves sets of beliefs that classify the world into categories, and, in the process, generate rules of conduct that permit certain behaviors and activities while forbidding others. Moreover, since different religions possess their own classication schemata, they also exhibit different beliefs concerning what is prohibited and what is not. With a few notable exceptions, studies examining the relationship between religion and alcohol use have proceeded from a theoretical perspective that views religion as providing a normative context that supplies individuals with criteria for the evaluation of action and guidelines for behavior (Cochran et al., 1988). Within this tradition, often termed reference group theory, the focus is placed on religious denominationdifferentiating between those that tolerate alcohol use and those that discourage or prohibit its consumption since an individuals attitudes and behaviors are shaped by the groups to which she or he belongs (Bock et al., 1983). Adherents of religions such as Judaism, Catholicism, Episcopalianism, Presbyterianism, Lutheranism, and, at times, Methodism are thus typically grouped together on the basis of this tolerance criterion and are contrasted to Baptists and to members of fundamentalist Christian denominations, such as Pentecostalism and born again Christianity (Cahalan et al., 1969; Cochran et al., 1992; Skolnick, 1958; Thorner, 1953). Thus, given the variation in the normative stance of the different religions toward alcohol consumption, the expectation is that the greatest use of alcohol will be found among those whose afliation is with the denominations that permit its use, and the least among those involved in religions that proscribe it (Beeghley et al., 1990; Bock et al., 1987; Clarke et al., 1990; Cochran et al., 1992; Perkins, 1987). While studies that emphasize the effect of reference groups have provided valuable insights into the relationship between alcohol and religion, on its own, this perspective is somewhat one-sided. In addition to the normative, religion also has an integrative function. In sharing a system of beliefs and practices, members of a religious group become united into a moral community, and, as Durkheim emphasized, this second element is no less essential than the rst (1995:44). By concentrating solely on the normative aspects of religion and religious denomination, reference group theory tends to overlook the role that group integration per se plays in a variety of behavioral outcomesincluding alcohol useregardless of the overt normative orientation of the group. An early attempt to link social integration with the diminution of drinking can be found in the work of Klausner, who investigated the consequences

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of what he called faith achievingthe integrative function of afliating with others which enables the individual to act in the face of anxiety (1961, 1964). Klausners work is relevant here not only because it relates group integration to alcohol consumption behavior, but also because it provides a theoretical account of the mechanism by which group membership may inuence such behavior. If alcohol consumed in moderate quantities acts as a social lubricant, then strong afliation with a group, especially a religious one whose purpose is not associated with drinking, may decrease the amount of drinking, since the afliative functions are otherwise fullled. Moreover, alcohol can be viewed as self-medication against anxiety (Neff and Husaini, 1985). But as Klausner argues, integration into a religious group tends to reduce anxiety. Thus, integration, especially into a religious group, is associated with less rather than with more drinkinga reduction that has little to do with any particular religions prohibition against the consumption of alcohol. In recent years, researchers investigating the social correlates of physical and mental health have turned their attention to religion and the potential benets that may be derived from integration into a religious community (Crawford et al., 1989; Ellison, 1991; for a review, see Levin et al., 1994). Drawing upon the stress and social support literature (for a review, see Thoits, 1995), one explanation6 for the salutary relationship between religion and health expressly thematizes religious organizations as contexts of social support. As with any other social group, membership in a religious community introduces the individual into a network, a connection that can provide access to emotional, cognitive, and material support, fostering the individuals perception that he is cared for and esteemed (Idler, 1987:228). At an institutional level, this support is manifest not only in the clergy, which functions as a resource for counseling and assistance with personal problems (Chalfant et al., 1990), but also in various forms of material support (such as family services, food, clothing, shelter, etc.) that are provided by the congregation (Chaves and Higgins, 1992; Maton, 1989). Such benets can also be obtained at the individual level, as fellow church members represent a potential source of informal support (Maton, 1987; Taylor and Chatters, 1988). Moreover, in addition to these tangible benets, religion has been linked to improved health, in that participation in a religious community allows for
6 In addition to social integration and support, the literature suggests three other ways in which

religion may contribute to well-being, including through the formation of relationship with a divine other, the provision of systems of meaning and existential coherence, and encouragement of certain lifestyles (for a review, see Ellison, 1991). As Ellison states, although conceptually and empirically distinct, these relationships are not mutually exclusive (80). In particular, the rst three can be seen as facets or elements of the moral community dimension of religion.

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regular social interaction, and provides the opportunity for the formation of social ties and friendships (Bradley, 1995) which can buffer the ill effects of stress (Ellison and George, 1994). Ferraro and Albrecht-Jensen (1991:200) assessed the link between religion and health and concluded that, even after social class differences were accounted for, social integration in a religious community, by connecting individuals to others, is the reason that religion may positively affect health. Of particular signicance for this paper, a few scholars have also investigated how the relationship between religion and health may vary by race. For example, in a rare study that included Latinos as well as blacks and whites, Drevenstedt (1998) tested the social support hypothesis and found that the health-enhancing benets of participation in religious services depended upon race, age, and gender. Religious service attendance predicted self-reported health for whites, especially men, but among nonwhites, the association held only for younger black women. In another study, Ferraro and Koch (1994) compared the effects of certain aspects of religion on health among subsamples of blacks and whites to assess whether race may interact with religion and support. Their ndings indicate that while blacks and whites benet equally from social support, even when controlling for several dimensions of religious expression, blacks are more likely to turn to religion when faced with health problems, and that religious practice is associated with improved health among blacks, but not among whites. Musick (1996) also employed a subsample comparison as a way to investigate possible interactive effects of race among elderly adults in a southern community. While little difference was discovered between blacks and whites in terms of subjective health and religion, Musick suggests that the lack of ndings may be due to generally high levels of religious activity in the sample, and argues that future analyses warrant differentiation by race. Although not addressing alcohol use, this body of research suggests that the integrative aspects of religion contribute in important ways to a variety of health outcomes. Moreover, it compels us to consider the role played by sociodemographic factorsmost notably raceand leads us to ask whether the differential patterns by religion for blacks and whites may hold for other behaviors such as alcohol consumption. The literature examining the role of the black church and patterns of African American religious life also provides a basis for anticipating possible variability by race in any relationship that includes a religious dimension. Research shows that, historically, religious institutions have been pivotal within African American communities (DuBois, 1903; Frazier, 1974; Taylor et al., 1987). And while the place of religion in contemporary life has changed for many Americans, both black and white, evidence suggests that the black church continues to be uniquely important for many of its

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members, functioning as an anchoring institution within the black community (Pattillo-McCoy, 1998). Although a number of these studies employ black-only samples, ndings indicate that in addition to its spiritual mission, the black church plays an active role in other, more secular aspects of the lives of its congregants, including that of acting as a mobilizing force within the community (Wilcox and Gomez, 1990), as a catalyst for organization within the civil rights movement (Morris, 1984), and, generally, as a site of political and civic activity (Harris, 1994). In one of the few comparative studies, Chaves and Higgins (1992) report that while the position of the contemporary black church within African American communities may be less central than it has been in the past, black congregations are more involved than white congregations in certain kinds of secular activities, notably those concerned with civil rights and with providing aid for the disprivileged segments of the immediately surrounding community. On the other hand, white congregations are more likely to be engaged in activities with targets outside the local community, such as refugee programs. More concretely, many of the activities aimed at the disprivileged or in crisis segment of the community include not only family-oriented outreach programs (Billingsley and Caldwell, 1994) but also services related to substance use. Caldwell et al. (1992) thematized this distinction at a more general level and examined the services offered by the black church as a support system that assists families in fullling either instrumental or expressive needs. Instrumental needs refer to the basic requirements for food, clothing, and shelter, whereas expressive needs include such things as emotional, spiritual, and intellectual development and education. Caldwell and colleagues found that almost half of the programs could be categorized as meeting instrumental needs, and another quarter were oriented toward a combination of instrumental and expressive needs, including assistance with substance use issues. In their analysis of the contemporary centrality of the black church, Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) found that community outreach programs constituted a major activity of urban black churches, with nearly 68% reporting that they were involved in such activities, offering, among other things, substance abuse programs. Thus, on the one hand, we are confronted with a large body of research on social support and the role that religious institutions in particular (as a site of group formation and integration) can play in providing such support. Much of the literature on the distinctiveness of the black church can be read within the context of this broad theoretical orientation. Although social support research does not generally take up outcomes such as substance consumption and abuse, the widespread prevalence of programs related to such issues suggests an extension of the support perspective in this direction. On the other hand, however, reference group theory, focusing largely on the normative dimension, has demonstrated an ability to provide robust

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accounts precisely of the ways in which religion may be implicated in various outcomes concerning substance use. The present paper attempts to examine both of the constitutive dimensions of religion and to analyze the conditions under which the normative context and/or the integrative role of religion may be related to alcohol use. Taking risk for alcohol dependency as the outcome, we compare those denominations that oppose the use of alcohol to those that do not, while simultaneously examining the effects of the relative strength of the commitment to the religious community. We propose that while each of these perspectives has a contribution to make, their relative importance in modeling the relation between religion and risk for alcohol dependency will vary across racial groups. Specically, given the distinctive nature of the black church, we expect that integrative dimension of religion will be more salient for blacks than for whites with respect to risk for alcohol dependency. The goal here is not to adjudicate between these two approaches, but rather to explore the conditions under which one, or both, may be applicable. By doing so, we attempt to acknowledge both aspects of religion as it has been understood by sociologists: not only as a system of obligatory beliefs, but also an eminently collective thing (Durkheim, 1995:44).

METHOD Sample The data reported here were obtained from a national evaluation of Fighting Back, a community-based substance intervention program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A telephone survey using random digit dialing sampling procedures was conducted in spring of 1995 and replicated in spring of 1997. There were no signicant differences over the 2 years, which allows us to pool the two datasets. The overall response rate for the two surveys was 78% (completed interviews divided by those respondents initially contacted). The survey averaged 23 min in length and targeted individuals aged 1644 years old. For these analyses, we omit the 16 through 20 age group since they are illegal drinkers, as well as those individuals who are not black or white. This leaves an available sample of 18,817 respondents, composed of 10,982 whites and 7835 blacks. Data were gathered from 12 mid-sized cities that were part of the Fighting Back initiative, and 29 other control site communities, to assess the relationships between the physical and social environments and substance use. The comparison sites were matched to the Fighting Back communities on demographic characteristics, and the selection of these comparison

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sites was conned to the same state for purposes of state policy and data comparability (Beveridge et al., 2000).7 The instrument utilizes questions that have been previously administered in other national surveys such as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Monitoring the Future, and the National Comorbidity Survey, as well as regional academic surveys (e.g., the Eagleton Institute), and underwent extensive pretesting. Within most communities, the survey focused on the inner city, matching the areas targeted by the Fighting Back program. The 41 sites represent middle- to moderate-sized American cites, and while exhibiting considerable regional, cultural, and economic diversity, each site has a large ethnic and racial minority population, as well as endemic poverty and unemployment. Although not representative of the nation as a whole, the sites do represent middle- to larger-sized American cities, which have major substance abuse and related problems. The survey fairly closely replicates ndings for all U.S. middlesized Metropolitan Statistical Areas, although our sites are somewhat poorer and include a greater number of minorities. This dataset offers several advantages for this study. First, since the sample is large and not conned to a specic region, there are sufcient numbers to permit an analysis of several denominations, rather than the single or dual denominational analysis typical of many studies on religion and alcohol. Second, the sample size also permits us to test for race effects through the creation of black and white subsamples and to include interaction terms as well, in contrast to most studies which consider racial differences by simply adding a term to control for race or ethnic status. Measures Alcohol Use Estimates of alcohol use are based on a question that asked whether the respondent had consumed more than four drinks in any single day within the past 12 months. Thus, an afrmative response meant that on at least one
7 The

following treatment and comparison sites were surveyed: (1) Milwaukee, WI; comparisons: Racine and Madison, WI. (2) New Haven, CT; comparisons: Bridgeport, Hartford, and Waterbury, CT. (3) Santa Barbara, CA; comparisons: Carlsbad and Redondo Beach, CA. (4) Vallejo, CA; comparisons: San Bernardino and Stockton, CA. (5) Washington, DC (Marshall Heights); comparisons: downtown Baltimore, MD, and downtown Washington, DC. (6) Worcester, MA; comparisons: Fall River, Lowell, and Springeld, MA. (7) Charlotte, NC; comparisons: Greensboro, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem, NC. (8) Columbia, SC; comparisons: Greenville, Charleston, and North Charleston, SC. (9) Kansas City, MO; comparisons: Columbia, Springeld, and St. Louis, MO. (10) Little Rock, AR; comparisons: Fort Smith and Pine Bluff, AR. (11) Newark, NJ; comparisons: Camden and Jersey City, NJ. (12) San Antonio, TX; comparisons: Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, TX.

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occasion in the last year, the respondent was potentially more than just a casual drinker. The measure is dichotomous, where 0 indicates absence of risk, and 1 indicates risk.8 This item is taken from National Comorbidity Study (see Kessler, 2000) and follows the criteria established in the DSM-IV and ICD 9 for estimating what is termed risk for alcohol dependency.9 Religion and Service Attendance Using the format established by the GSS, denomination was measured by asking respondents, What is your religious preference? Is it Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, some other religion, or no religion? If the respondent answered, Protestant, she or he was then asked to specify which denomination. Responses to the two questions included Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, other Protestant denominations, Protestant no denomination, Other (non-Protestant), and no religion. Muslims and Jews have been omitted from this analysis because there were so few black Jews or white Muslims. Next, on the basis of distinctions that are standard in the literature, denominations were categorized into those that oppose or object to the use of alcohol and those that do not (Clark et al., 1990; Nelsen and Rooney, 1982). Objector denominations include Baptist, Pentecostal, Protestant no denomination (labeled ProtestantND), Protestant Other, and Other. Those denominations categorized as Nonobjectors include Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist. No religion is the contrast category. Group membership, the integrative aspect of religion, is measured by means of a variable capturing the frequency with which respondents attended religious services. The four response categories are never/rarely (0), once or twice a month (1), once a week or more (2), and daily (3). However, since there were too few individuals who reported attending services daily to use this last category as a reasonable comparison group, the variable has been trichotomized, and daily attendance is included in the category of once a week or more. Using the procedure offered by the statistical package SPSS for recoding categorical variables, this measure was transformed
8 It

should be noted that this dichotomous distinction derives from the medical model that dominates the eld of substance use and abuse research, where it is assumed that an individual is either at risk for alcohol dependency or not, alcohol dependent or not dependent. It can be argued, however, as the second author of this paper has done elsewhere, that dependency cannot be so easily and distinctly identied (see Kadushin et al., 1998). Nevertheless, this classication risk for alcohol dependency is the standard in the eld, and so will be used in this paper. It reects the psychiatric opinion that persons who have four or more drinks on a single day are potentially more than merely casual drinkers. 9 See Stacy et al. (1985) regarding the reliability and validity of self-reported measures of alcohol consumption.

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Table I. Percentage Distribution for Denomination, Service Attendance, Region, and at Risk for Alcohol Dependency: Pooled and by Race Pooled N Denomination Catholic Episcopalian Lutheran Methodist Presbyterian Baptist Pentecostal Protestant Other ProtestantNDa Other No religion Services: Never Services: Once or twice a month Services: Weekly Reside in the south At risk for alcohol dependency
a ND

White n 3220 283 456 636 421 1460 84 501 934 474 2016 5930 2161 2750 3895 5056 % 30.7 2.7 4.3 6.1 4.0 13.9 0.8 4.8 8.9 4.5 19.2 54.7 19.9 25.4 35.5 46.2 n

Black % 7.3 1.0 0.5 6.0 0.8 50.0 4.3 5.4 7.3 5.5 12.0 35.9 24.5 39.6 57.9 19.3

% 21.0 2.0 2.7 6.0 2.7 28.9 2.2 5.0 8.2 4.9 16.2 47.0 21.8 31.2 44.8 35.0

3767 356 488 1079 483 5179 403 903 1479 880 2913 8627 4004 5725 8429 6558

547 73 32 443 62 3719 319 402 545 406 897 2697 1843 2975 4534 1502

= No denomination.

into dummy variables, and the category of once or twice a month labeled ServicesM, and that of once a week or more ServicesW. Nonattendance is the omitted category. A breakdown of responses for each denomination and services by race is provided in Table I. The number of cases for almost all of the subcells is quite substantial, and none falls below 30. As is typically the case, there are considerably fewer black than white Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and, to a lesser degree, Catholics. Specically, 9.6% of the blacks in our sample report belonging to one of these historically white denominations. This is consistent with Stark, who estimated that approximately 10% of blacks belong to nonblack denominations (1987). However, it is important to note that even within these historically white denominations, there are congregations which are predominately or wholly black (see Cavendish, 2000; Hunt, 1996). The issue is germane to our paper, because it is primarily in the form of a particular church that any denomination takes on a palpable reality for its adherents. While the data do not permit us to evaluate the extent to which this may hold for our respondents, research indicates that the overwhelming majority of church-going African Americans belong to black denominations or to black churches (Billingsley and Caldwell, 1994; Roof and McKinney, 1987; Wilcox and Gomez, 1990). And while congregational homogamy may be dissipating (Hunt, 1998), religious participation still tends to be highly segregated (for several reasons, not the least of which is that

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residential patterns in the United States tend to be segregated (Massey and Denton, 1993)). With respect to service attendance, Table I indicates that a larger percentage of blacks attend weekly than do whites, and whites are more likely to never attend than are blacks. This is also consistent with the literature (Taylor et al., 1996). Importantly, however, when both the denomination and service variables are included in a model as predictors, a misspecication problem arises. Specically, almost no one in the sample who reported no religion also reported attending services (n = 62). Therefore, in the models that include the dummy variable for services, those who report no religion are omitted and the contrast category becomes all nonobjecting denominations. This procedure also addresses the problem of the small number of black Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians.

Interactions According to reference group theory, the more contact an individual has with a religion and its norms, the more that religions norms are reinforced. Thus, a second predictor variable measuring the normative dimension was created, the interaction terms of denomination by the two dummy categories of service attendance. This set of terms essentially measures strength of commitment to a particular religion. Under the normative hypothesis, we would expect to nd that, in the case of religions that have proscriptive alcohol norms, attending services more often leads to a decrease in reports of alcohol use. In other words, the more contact an individual has with the group and its discouraging alcohol norms, the less likely she or he would be to drink. Conversely, for individuals whose religion allows or permits alcohol consumption, more frequent service attendance would not be associated with any decrease in alcohol consumption, since no prohibitive norm is being reinforced by this attendance. As we interpret it, therefore, the effects pointed to by reference group theory are contingent upon the degree to which an individual is integrated into a social group (just as with the integration perspective); however, these effects will also vary according to the nature of the particular group to which she or he belongsin this case by virtue of differences in doctrinally legitimated norms concerning alcohol use. Thus, signicant interactions would indicate that the effect of services is not constantthat is, not independentbut varies by denomination. On the other hand, a lack of signicant interactions would offer support to the integrative argument, indicating that the effect of attending services is constant, regardless of denomination. In this manner, we are able

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to more rigorously isolate the denominational factor postulated by reference group theory, while simultaneously registering a phenomenon that it tends to overlook. Background Variables The control variables include gender (males = 0); age, centered on the sample mean of 32; household income, reported in nine categories ranging from less than $5000 to $75,000 and over, and treated as a continuous variable centered around the median category of $25,00035,000; region of the country, dichotomized (non-South = 0, South = 1); and education, reported in six categories ranging from eighth grade or less to graduate degree, also treated as a continuous variable centered on some college. Additionally, two variables that were part of the sampling design are included in each equation in lieu of sampling weights: one for the number of telephones (where the contrast category is one phone) and one for the size of the household (standardized to the mean, 2) (Kadushin et al., 1998). In the analyses presented below, the data are not postweighted. That is, no adjustments have been made to control for potential demographic differences between the sample and census data for the target sites. Comparisons of the survey to 1990 Census data suggest a fairly good match on the basis of demography (Saxe et al., 1997) with the exception of a slightly higher rate of blacks. Current debates regarding the possible use of a sampling methodology in the 2000 U.S. census suggest that general population surveys may actually be more accurate in their counts of blacks (and Hispanics). Finally, it should be noted that all effects in these models are considered predictive only in a statistical sense; that is, we do not necessarily make any strong inferences of causality. For example, if an association is shown between attendance at religious services and risk for alcohol dependency, it is possible that something that happens in the services acts to reduce alcohol consumption; conversely, however, it is entirely possible that those who drink do not choose to go to religious services. By and large, given the literature, we do assume that it is something about religion or integration into a religious group that has an effect on alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, we also entertain the possibility that alcohol users are not welcome in certain churches. RESULTS Tables II and III present the results of a series of logistic regression equations (using SPSS 9.0) designed to test the theoretical arguments guiding our

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Table II. Logistic Coefcients of Risk for Alcohol Dependency by Objector and Nonobjector Denominationsa , b Model 1: Pooled ( N = 16,119) Nonobjector Denominations Catholic Episcopalian Lutheran Methodist Presbyterian Objector Denominations Baptist Pentecostal Protestant Other ProtestantNDc Other Constant 0.06 (0.06) 0.37 (0.12) 0.54 (0.11) 0.16 (0.08) 0.16 (0.11) 0.72 (0.06) 1.37 (0.16) 0.87 (0.10) 0.63 (0.08) 0.47 (0.09) 0.31 (0.05) Model 2: White (n = 9516) 0.20 (0.06) 0.19 (0.14) 0.25 (0.12) 0.24 (0.10) 0.09 (0.12) 0.77 (0.08) 1.17 (0.28) 1.02 (0.12) 0.63 (0.09) 0.45 (0.12) 0.56 (0.06) Model 3: Black (n = 6603) 0.13 (0.14) 0.47 (0.31) 0.03 (0.49) 0.27 (0.16) 0.62 (0.45) 0.07 (0.10) 0.59 (0.21) 0.26 (0.17) 0.53 (0.16) 0.06 (0.16) 0.75 (0.11)

Note. Standard errors are in parentheses. Boldface type indicates signicant difference between whites and blacks. a Controlling for age, gender, household income, education, region, number of phones and household size. b Contrast category for denomination is No Religion. c ND = No denomination. p < 0.01; p < 0.001.

analysis. Table II reports the main effects of each religious denomination on risk for alcohol dependency, holding constant the background and control variables. The constant in these models indicates those respondents who are at risk for alcohol dependency and who are male, 32 years old, earn between $25,000 and 35,000, have some college education, reside outside the South, have one phone, live with one other person, and report no religious afliation. Model 1 pools the white and black respondents. The estimated log odds for the base constant is 0.31, which translates into a 57.8% likelihood of being at risk for alcohol dependency for those individuals who are characterized by the properties constitutive of the constant. When we compare those denominations that do not object to alcohol consumption to those that do, a clear, general pattern emerges: Among individuals whose religion does not object, there is a greater likelihood of being at risk for alcohol dependency than there is among those whose religion opposes. For the categories of Episcopalian and Lutheran, two denominations that do not oppose the use of alcohol, there are statistically signicant increases of 8.4 and 12.1%, respectively, from the constant in the risk for alcohol dependency. However, for every category of the objector denominations, there is a statistically signicant decrease in risk. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect is substantial, ranging from a decreased risk for alcohol dependency of 32.1% among Pentecostals, to an 11.7% drop among those in the category Other.

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These ndings offer preliminary support to reference group theorys contention that the particular doctrinal norms of a religious group are related to alcohol use behavior. Models 2 and 3 parallel Model 1 and examine whether the main effect of religious denomination on the likelihood of risk for alcohol dependency differs for whites and blacks, respectively. The overall pattern within each subgroup indicates that membership in a denomination that objects to the use of alcohol is more important for whites than for blacks, implying that the normative context provided by religion may play a greater role in predicting risk for alcohol dependency for whites. For blacks, none of the nonobjector and only two out of ve objector denominations are statistically signicant (those of Pentecostal and ProtestantND). For whites, Catholic and each of the objector denominations are signicantly associated with a decrease in risk. The magnitude of the effects are also different for blacks and whites. Among white Pentecostals, for example, the log odds likelihood for being at risk for alcohol dependency is 0.61 ( Bconstant + Bpentecostal ), whereas for black Pentecostals the log odds likelihood is 1.34. This means that there is a 28.5% decrease in the likelihood of risk for alcohol dependency among white Pentecostals, as compared to a 11.4% decrease in the risk likelihood among black Pentecostals. To determine whether the observed differences between the subsamples are statistically signicantly (e.g., Glass and Hopkins, 1996; Lindgren, 1993), t scores were calculated (two-tailed; p < 0.05) for the differences between logistic coefcients. These computations revealed that six of the main effects for denomination are different for blacks and whites. The signicant differences are presented as boldface type in Table II. Table III presents a series of equations including the second main effect variable, services, which represents the second relevant aspect of religion in our formulationsocial integration. However, to avoid the misspecication issue discussed in the Methods section, those who report no religion are omitted. Hence, in this table the reference category on religion is nonobjector denominations. Models 1 and 4 show that for the pooled sample and the white subsample, members of each objector denomination are signicantly less likely to be at risk for alcohol dependency as compared to nonobjectors. Model 7 indicates that the likelihood of risk among black Pentecostals and Protestants of no denomination is signicantly less than it is among nonobjectors. These ndings are consistent with those reported in Table II (where the contrast category was no religious afliation). In Model 2, which utilizes the pooled sample, both categories of the dummy variable are statistically signicant, indicating that services exhibits a direct effect on risk for alcohol dependency. As compared to those who do not attend services, the likelihood of risk decreases by 8.1% for respondents who attend once or twice a month, and by 26.1% for those who attend

Table III. Main and Interaction Logistic Coefcients of Risk for Alcohol Dependency by Denomination and Frequency of Service Attendance
White (n = 7582) Model 3 0.59 (0.08) 1.04 (0.31) 0.38 (0.17) 0.38 (0.10) 0.27 (0.14) 0.23 (0.11) 0.86 (0.52) 0.40 (0.20) 0.12 (0.12) 0.10 (0.16) 0.10 (0.09) 0.70 (0.21) 0.37 (0.17) 0.69 (0.16) 0.17 (0.16) 0.33 (0.06) 0.26 (0.08) 1.00 (0.06) 0.63 (0.08) 0.26 (0.17) 0.58 (0.79) 0.06 (0.29) 0.39 (0.22) 0.09 (0.27) 1.03 (0.17) 0.25 (0.67) 0.99 0.91 0.90 0.41 (0.05) 0.74 (0.06)

Pooled ( N = 13,149) Model 4 0.64 (0.07) 1.04 (0.28) 0.88 (0.11) 0.48 (0.08) 0.29 (0.11) 0.59 (0.08) 0.78 (0.29) 0.72 (0.12) 0.46 (0.08) 0.29 (0.11) Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 8 Model 9

Black (n = 5567)

Model 1 (0.05) (0.16) (0.09) (0.07) (0.09)

Model 2

Main effects Baptist Pentecostal Protestant Other ProtestantNDc Other

0.83 1.43 0.93 0.70 0.51

(0.05) (0.16) (0.09) (0.07) (0.09)

0.76 1.13 0.71 0.65 0.40

0.06 (0.09) 0.10 (0.16) 0.45 (0.21) 0.23 (0.40) 0.13 (0.17) 0.38 (0.33) 0.60 (0.16) 0.52 (0.26) 0.06 (0.17) 0.08 (0.31) 0.08 (0.09) 0.10 (0.19) 0.93 (0.09) 0.73 (0.21) 0.29 (0.22) 0.25 (0.55) 0.18 (0.45) 0.13 (0.40) 0.23 (0.44) 0.19 (0.24) 0.70 (0.54)

0.34 (0.05) 0.31 (0.07) 1.07 (0.05) 0.74 (0.07) 0.10 (0.11) 0.49 (0.44) 0.12 (0.24) 0.29 (0.19) 0.22 (22) 0.52 (0.12) 0.60 (0.40) 1.03 (0.23) (0.17) 0.74 0.65 (0.21) 0.63 (0.06)

Services Monthly Services Weekly Interactionsb Baptist Services Monthly Pentecostal Services Monthly Protestant Other Services Monthly ProtestantND Services Monthly Other Services Monthly

(0.28) (0.20) (0.30) 0.62 (0.06) 0.57 (0.11) 0.32 (0.12)

1.09 (0.45) 0.10 (0.39) 0.14 (0.40) 0.44 (0.16)

Baptist Services Weekly Pentecostal Services Weekly Protestant Other Services Weekly ProtestantND Services Weekly Other Serivces Weekly Constant

0.39 (0.04)

0.73 (0.05)

Note. Boldface type indicates signicant difference between whites and blacks. a Each equation controls for respondents age, household income, education, region of the country, number of phones and household residents. Standard errors are in parenthesis. b For terms involved in interactions, the main effects represent the logistic coefcient when the other term in the interaction takes the value of 0. c ND = No denominations. p < 0.01; p < 0.001.

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weekly. This nding supports the argument of the integration perspective that membership in a religious group, regardless of its specic beliefs and norms, is associated with a reduced likelihood of negative health behaviors (here risk for alcohol dependency). Models 5 and 8 test whether the alternative social integration perspective may be more salient for blacks than for whites. Three of the four terms in the two models are signicant, and, contrary to expectations, the relationship appears somewhat stronger for whites than for blacks. Whites who attend services once or twice a month are 7.4% less likely to be at risk for alcohol dependency as compared to whites who do not attend. There are no similar effects for blacks for this categoryrespondents who are black and attend services once or twice a month face the same risk as those who do not attend services. By contrast, weekly service attendance is a signicant predictor of reduced risk for both whites and blacks. Among whites, risk is reduced by 24.2%, and among blacks by 19.7%, a rather modest 4.5% difference. Models 3, 6, and 9 introduce the interaction between denomination and services into the equation, and represent the key step in the analysis. Specically, these models address the question of whether services is tapping into some dimension of integration, or if it is functioning as a proxy for the normative aspect. Recall that the set of interaction terms is interpreted here as a measure of the respondents exposure to a particular set of religious norms; consequently, the main effect term for services can only be taken to represent the integrative dimension of religionthe aspect attributable to group membership per seonce the set of interaction terms has been included. For the pooled sample, Model 3 shows that when the interaction term is taken into account, there is an additional reduction in risk for four of the ve objector denominations with weekly service attendance. There are no signicant interactions associated with attending once or twice a month. This implies that individuals belonging to religions opposed to alcohol use are less likely to be at risk for alcohol dependency if they attend services weekly, as compared to those whose religion does not oppose alcohol use and who also attend services weekly. These ndings offer some support to the argument of reference group theory, which suggests that greater exposure to a particular set of norms is associated with greater conformity to those norms (or that persons favorably disposed to these norms are more likely to attend religious services promulgating them on a frequent basis). The coefcient for the constant indicates that 65.4% of those who belong to religions that do not oppose alcohol and who do not attend services are at risk for alcohol dependency; when members of this group attend services weekly, the proportion at risk drops to 47.2%. However, when we look at the interaction effect of attending services for those who belong to opposing

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religions, there is an additional effect of going to church weekly on the likelihood of alcohol dependency. The additional decrease ranges from 12.5% for the category Baptist to 23.0% for the category Protestant Other. It appears, then, that both reference group theory and the social integration perspective are supported by the data, although the effects predicted by the former are stronger. Models 6 and 9 repeat the equation in Model 3 separately for whites and blacks, respectively. None of the interaction coefcients with once or twice a month attendance were signicant, for blacks or whites. However, for whites, each of the interactions with weekly attendance, other than that for Pentecostal, is statistically signicant. The additional reduction in risk ranges from 25.1% among Baptists to 22.0% among Others. By contrast, for blacks, there are no signicant interactions between religion and weekly service attendance. To test whether the observed differences between blacks and whites are statistically signicant, t scores were calculated (two-tailed; p < 0.05) for the interaction terms, and the results presented as boldface type in Table III. Of the ve interaction terms with weekly attendance and the objector denominations, Baptist, ProtestantND, and Other are statistically different across the subsamples. These ndings suggest that the reference group perspective holds predominately among whites, whereas the idea that integration into the religious community is implicated in the relationship between religion (irrespective of its doctrinal particularities) and alcohol is applicable to both whites and blacks, albeit somewhat more strongly for the latter group than for the former. The pattern of signicance and nonsignicance among the sets of interaction terms in the two equations further implies that for whites, the full model (Model 6) best ts the data, while for blacks, the main effects only model (Model 8) is the better t.

DISCUSSION This paper advances the debate over the relationship between religion and alcohol in two ways. First, it species several of the conditions under which religion and alcohol may be linked by bringing together two bodies of literatureone that emphasizes the normative dimension of religion, and the other its integrative aspect. Second, it suggests that some of these linkages may be different for blacks and for whites. Reference group theory argues that the normative content of the religion to which one adheres is associated with behavior surrounding alcohol use, and thus hypothesizes that increased contact with a group whose doctrine is opposed to alcohol is related to decreased reports of alcohol use. A social integration perspective suggests, however, that it is not solely the

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norms of the group that inuence behavior, but contact with its members contact that can provide, among other things, social supportthat does so, in relative independence from the doctrinal content of its professed beliefs. Hence, the latter perspective leads to the expectation that more frequent attendance at religious services is associated with a decreased risk for alcohol dependency, regardless of whether the religious denomination objects to the use of alcohol or not. Initial analyses of the sample as a whole indicated that both denomination and service attendance are directly and inversely related to the likelihood of risk for alcohol dependency. Individuals belonging to objector denominations face a smaller risk than those individuals who are members of denominations that do not object. Attending church services, either once or twice a month or weekly, also signicantly reduces the likelihood of risk. However, increased exposure to the norms of an objector denomination among those who attend services weekly, as measured by the interaction term, is associated with an additional diminution in the likelihood of risk for the majority of these denominations, offering further support to the normative interpretation. Taken together, the ndings indicate that although the norms of the religious reference group may be more important in predicting risk for alcohol dependency, the degree of social integration, as measured by frequency of service attendance, also contributes substantially to the likelihood of risk. (These ndings are consistent with those obtained in a prior study examining the correlations between denomination, service attendance, and drinking behavior in the past 30 days (Stark and Bainbridge, 1996).) Note that the direction of causation cannot be determined by these data. It may be that those who are well-integrated and/or socialized into social systems have less need of alcohol, or that well-integrated and/or proscriptive social systems are less open to heavier drinkers. The analysis was extended to subsamples of blacks and whites to determine whether the results described above hold in a similar manner for members of the two populations. The data suggest that for whites, membership in a denomination that objects to the use of alcohol is more consistently and more strongly associated with a decreased risk for alcohol dependency than it is for blacks. Indeed, once service attendance is controlled for, only one objector denomination is associated with a reduction in risk among blacks, that of ProtestantND. Results from models that include the interaction terms further support this contention. There are no signicant interactions between attending services monthly and membership in an objector denomination for either whites or blacks. However, four of the ve interaction terms representing weekly attendance are signicant for whites, while none are for blacks. These observed differences in the behavior of the interactions across the two subsamples are statistically signicant for Baptists, Protestants of no denomination, and Others, but not Pentecostals or other Protestants. One

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reason for this variation might lie in the fact that even among denominations objecting to the use of alcohol, the degree of opposition varies. Studies have shown that churches have distinct personalities (Pargament et al., 1983) and differ in terms of religious belief-transmitting systems (Pargament et al., 1979). The signicant interaction terms in the model for whites imply that members of this group who belong to objector denominations and also attend services weekly exhibit an additional reduction in risk for alcohol dependency in four out of ve instances. This is not the case for blacks: The effect of weekly service attendance is independent of denomination, indicating that the benets of religion that accrue to blacks with respect to risk are almost wholly associated with the integrative function. Thus, for blacks, given the nonsignicance of the interaction terms, the best-tting model is the one that includes main effects only, whereas for whites, the model that includes the interaction terms is more appropriate. In light of the manifest differences in the patterns of these effects across the two subsamples, it seems plausible to conclude that for whites, the strictly normative aspect of religion is more pronounced in the relationship to risk for alcohol dependency than it is for blacks, whereas among blacks, the integrative dimension of religion is more important in understanding risk. This nding is consistent with expectations based on social support research, which regularly nds health differences between various racial groups, and the literature on the African American religious experience, which argues that the church occupies a distinctive place in the lives of many black Americans. Black churches often help their members handle certain stressors, such as socioeconomic deprivation (Levin et al., 1994), or step in as a mediating institution when their members are faced with health problems that cannot be adequately dealt with because of health care inequities (Ferraro and Koch, 1994). While our data suggest that the integrative dimension of religion is more important in understanding risk for alcohol dependency for blacks, the effect is limited to the measure of weekly attendance. Since blacks exhibit higher levels of both private religious activity and service attendance than do whites (Chatters et al., 1999; Taylor, 1988a,b), it may be that only weekly attendance for blacks offers the required dose of integration. Another explanation for this may lie in the possibility that the distinctiveness of the black church claimed by the literature is overstated. Although recent studies do offer evidence that black and white churches are different in the kinds of services offered (Chaves and Higgins, 1992), the degree to which these differences exist may be minimal. Other researchers have asserted that in recent decades there has been a decline in the institutional centrality of the black church, because of factors such as urbanization and out-migration from

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the South (Nelsen, 1988). However, since so little comparative research has been undertaken in this area, it is difcult to extrapolate further. Indeed, since the sample used here focuses on an urban population, we have in effect controlled for ruralurban differences, and this may contribute to an explanation of the ndings in two ways. First, religious attendance is typically higher in rural areas, especially among blacks (Ellison and Sherkat, 1995; Levin et al., 1995); thus, an analysis of an urban-only sample would have the result of lowering overall attendance rates. Second, residence in an urban setting means greater access to secular sources of support and aid (Ellison and Sherkat, 1995), which may be of particular importance to blacks, given the argument that the black church has traditionally served as an important site of such services. We recognize that church attendance taps into both dimensions of religionattendance at church is both an occasion to reinforce group integration and, simultaneously, an opportunity for further normative socialization. Nevertheless, by utilizing an interaction term constituted by denomination and services, and a direct effect measure of services, we believe that we have partialed out the normative and integrative aspect of attendance with reasonable success. Consequently, despite having reservations concerning the measure of integration, we have demonstrated that reference group theory has relatively little purchase on the nature of the association between religion and alcohol for blacks. This is particularly apparent if it is recalled that risk for alcohol dependency decreases for only one of the denominational categories in the black subsample. Conversely, our ndings also show that religion has an effect on reducing the risk for alcohol dependency among nonobjecting denominationsthrough service attendance. Among whites, this is demonstrated in the signicant main effects of monthly and weekly service attendance in the full model, and among blacks, in the main effects only model with weekly attendance. The idea that services could, at least in some instances, be a measure of integration per se and not solely an aspect of denominational/normative commitment (Cochran and Akers, 1989; Forthum et al., 1999; Hertel and Hughes, 1987) or an indicator of exposure to the social pressures of a particular religious group (see Nelsen and Rooney, 1982) is something that is rarely addressed in the literature and something that cannot be fully tested in models that fail to include interaction terms. Thus, the ndings presented here contribute in a novel way to the understanding of the relationship between religion and alcohol use. Given the racial differences in the salience of the two aspects of religion that we have examinedas well as the magnitude of these differencesthe specically integrative function must be recognized as a key factor with respect to a host of potential outcomes. Likewise, it seems that any analysis that acknowledges the plural functions of religion cannot presuppose their

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uniformity across racial groups. In other words, it may be the case that important patterns are masked if race is merely included as a control variable. To more fully comprehend the manner in which alcohol use and religion are linked, especially in the black community, the nature of the church and not solely its denominationneeds to be considered in the attempt to assess the risk for alcohol dependency. Indeed, it has long been a tenet of sociology that religion is implicated in social life in a multidimensional manner. As Klausner proposed, afliation within a moral community may lessen existential anxiety, thereby reducing the use of alcohol as self-medication for anxiety, and it may do so in relative independence from the effects of doctrine. In attempting to reconcile these distinct approaches, we have begun to expand the conceptual range within which the relationship between religion and alcohol use can be considered. We also believe that our research indicates a number of potentially fruitful themes for additional inquiry. For example, the analysis we have carried out here for persons aged 22 through 44 is certainly open to repetition for the age groupsyouth and the elderly which are often the focus of substance use and religion research. While we would certainly tend to hypothesize that the social integration effect would be relatively powerful when looking at the elderly, we are unsure what to expect among youths. Second, other outcomes could be employed to determine whether the dynamics identied here operate similarly for different thresholds of alcohol use. Third, the manner in which the nature of the relation between religion and alcohol differs for racial groups could be claried by data that contained information on the attributes of the religious organizations with which individuals afliate. Fourth, panel analysis might permit us to untangle causal relationships that are suggested by theory but are impossible to directly verify with cross-sectional data. Finally, future studies would benet from the inclusion of more nuanced measures of integration as well as indicators of relevant normative variations. Indeed, one of the major weakness of this study is the restriction, because of the nature of the data, of our integration measure to service attendance, a relatively imprecise indicator. In particular, a network-based measure of the number of close friends who also attend church would be required to substantiate the exact nature of this effect. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant No. 024789, and by the Faculty Research Committee at Long Island University. We are very grateful to David Rindskopf for his helpful comments and assistance. The research has been made possible by the combined

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efforts and assistance of the Fighting Back research team, especially Leonard Saxe, principal investigator, and Elizabeth Tighe and David Livert, research analysts. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers for the insights and criticisms they offered; the paper is considerably stronger as a result of their efforts. REFERENCES
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