Our study confirms prior research that has documented higher rates of religious service attendance during childhood (C-RA) and adulthood (A-RA)5,34 and lower rates of alcohol involvement in Blacks compared to Whites.16,35 Across racial/ethnic groups, we noted a decline in overall RA and this change was more precipitous for Blacks (ie, dropping from 35% to 15% for RA on a greater than weekly basis). Consistent with the literature, we also noted that ever drinking and AUD were less common in Blacks who also were less likely than Whites to start drinking prior to age 16.17 Despite these trends, and also consistent with other studies and our initial hypotheses,6 while C-RA was associated with lower likelihood of alcohol involvement in Whites, it was not correlated with any level of alcohol involvement in Blacks. Thus, other childhood protective influences are likely to act as deterrents to onset of drinking, particularly at an early age, in Black youth. However, more large-scale studies that gather data on childhood protective factors for alcohol use that might be of particular salience in Blacks are needed.
