Religion, Delinquency, and Drug Use

• Author: Byron R. Johnson,Joshua R. Polanin,P. Elizabeth Kelly,Sung Joon Jang
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016815605151
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Religion, Delinquency, and

Drug Use: A Meta-Analysis

P. Elizabeth Kelly

1

, Joshua R. Polanin

2

,

Sung Joon Jang

3

, and Byron R. Johnson

3

Abstract

Contemporary research on adolescent involvement in religion and delinquency is generally traced to

Hirschi and Stark’s 1969 study, titled ‘‘Hellfire and Delinquency.’’ Their study surprised many by

reporting no significant relationship between religious involvement and delinquency. Subsequent

replications provided mixed results, but multiple reviews, both traditional and systematic, found

religious involvement to be inversely related to delinquency. However, meta-analysis of the rela-

tionship remains scant with only three studies published to date. To address this research need, we

conducted a meta-analysis of 62 relevant studies over four decades, which provided 145 effect sizes

from 193,656 adolescents. We examined six bivariate correlations between two, attitudinal and

behavioral, measures of religious involvement (religiosity and church attendance) and three indi-

cators of delinquent behavior (alcohol use, illicit drug use, and nondrug delinquency). Our meta-

analysis results indicated an inverse relationship among all correlations (range: .16 to .22).

Stated differently, the results of this meta-analysis confirmed that religious involvement is negatively

related to delinquent behaviors, regardless of measurement characteristics. The implications of this

finding for future research on religion and delinquency are discussed.

Keywords

delinquency, alcohol use, drug use, religion, meta-analysis

Although the relationship between religion and delinquency has been studied since the early 1900s

(Knudten & Knudten, 1971), Hirschi and Stark’s (1969) landmark study changed the trajectory of

criminological research on religion. The results of the study indicated that religiosity and delin-

quency had little relationship, which surprised researchers who were convinced of the prosocial

impact of religion on human behaviors (Stark, 1984). Subsequent research on the relationship

between religion and delinquency has generally found support for an inverse relationship between

1

Department of Sociology, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, AR, USA

2

Peabody Research Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

3

Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

P. Elizabeth Kelly, Department of Sociology, Ouachita Baptist University, 400 Ouachita, Box 3770, Arkadelphia,

AR 71923, USA.

Email: kellye@obu.edu

Criminal Justice Review

2015, Vol. 40(4) 505-523

ª2015 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016815605151

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measures of religion and measures of crime and delinquency (Dew et al., 2008; Jang, 2013; Johnson,

2001; Koenig, King, & Carson, 2012; Regnerus, 2006; Stark, 1996).

Systematic reviews of research on religiosity and delinquency have been conducted in the past

decade (e.g., Chitwood, Weiss, & Leukefeld, 2008; Johnson & Jang, 2010; Johnson, Li, Larson,

& McCullough, 2000b; Johnson, Thompkins, & Webb, 2002). These systematic reviews generally

confirmed the conclusion drawn by traditional reviews of literatures: Individuals who are more reli-

gious are less likely to engage in crime, delinquency, and use of drugs, licit and illicit. On the other

hand, only a handful of quantitative syntheses (i.e., meta-analysis) have been conducted (Baier &

Wright, 2001; Yeung, Chan, & Lee, 2009; Yonker, Schnabelrauch, & DeHaan, 2012).

An additional meta-analysis is needed for two reasons. First, this review will bolster the emerging

subfield of criminology of religion (Cullen, 2010) beyond simple anecdotal or local research studies

toward a more comprehensive representation. Second, well over a decade has passed since Baier and

Wright’s (2001) meta-analysis of criminological research published through 1998, and recent meta-

analyses by Yeung,Chan, and Lee (2009) and Yonker, Schnabelrauch, and DeHaan(2012) are limited

to studiesof the last 10–20 years.Thus, there is a need for meta-analysis of both ‘‘old’’and ‘‘new’’ studies

spanninga longer period of timethan what the previous meta-analyses covered.In doing so, we confine

our analysisto studies that use adolescent samples and examine different types of adolescentdeviance:

alcohol use, illicit drug use, and delinquency other than drug use,called here ‘‘nondrug delinquency.’’

Before explaining our methodology, however, a brief history and summary of key research on

religion and crime and drug use is in order, which is followed by an overview of studies based

on the methods of systematic review and meta-analysis. After presenting results from our meta-

analysis, we discuss their limitations and implications for future research on religion and adolescent

involvement in delinquency and drug use.

Prior Research

Contemporary research on the relationship between religion and delinquency is generally traced to

an important study titled ‘‘Hellfire and Delinquency’’ (Hirschi & Stark, 1969). Hirschi and Stark’s

primary conclusion suggested that religious commitment among youth was not related to measures

of delinquency. A number of scholars replicated the study, and the replications both supported

(Burkett & White, 1974) and refuted (Albrecht, Chadwick, & Alcorn, 1977; Higgins & Albrecht,

1977; Jensen & Erikson, 1979) the original finding. Rather than clarifying the situation, the contra-

dictory findings of initial replications complicated the research landscape. After a series of studies

over a decade, it was still debated whether or not religion helped reduce delinquency. Indeed, any

number of studies concluded that the religion–delinquency relationship lacked explanatory consen-

sus (Evans et al., 1996; Johnson, Marcos, & Bahr, 1987; Tittle & Welch, 1982).

Stark, Kent, and Doyle (1982) returned to the issue and suggested that these contradictory find-

ings were likely the result of the moral (i.e., religious) makeup of the community being studied. The

authors predicted religion would deter delinquency in moral communities, but there would be little

or no effect of religiosity on individuals residing in secularized communities. The ‘‘moral commu-

nities’’ hypothesis provided an important theoretical framework for understanding why religion

reduced delinquency in some studies, whereas other studies found religion had no significant impact

on delinquency (Stark, 1996; Stark, Kent, & Doyle, 1982). For example, studies of delinquency in

religious communities such as Mormon Wards in Utah and Idaho yielded an inverse relationship

between religious commitment measures and delinquency (Albrecht et al., 1977). Conversely, com-

munities reporting lower church membership rates such as Richmond, California, failed to generate

the inverse relationship (Hirschi & Stark, 1969).

Other studies continued to provide empirical evidence that an adolescent’s religiosity, measured

in terms of religious involvement (e.g., religious service attendance and participation in religious

506 Criminal Justice Review 40(4)