The Moderating Role of Spirituality in the Relationship Between School-Related Stress and Substance Use

Substance use, misuse, and dependence are among the priority health-risk behaviors related to leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults in the U.S. (Kann, 2013). Substance use often occurs as a result of coping with stress. Within the school context, youth are exposed stressors related to school achievement and peer relationships (Compas, 1987). The current study will examine the role of spirituality in moderating the relationship between stress and substance use.  This study makes use of data collected from 44 religious private schools that completed the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools (MDS3) climate survey. 

Data were collected from youth in grades 6-8 via a web-based survey administered in spring 2013. Three self-reported items were used to measure youth’s level of stress during the past month: having trouble falling asleep, not getting enough rest, feeling stressed (α = 0.75).  The survey also assessed if adolescents used their spiritual beliefs to cope with personal problems and problems at school. A latent factor which included alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD; including prescription drugs) use was used to measure substance use in the past month.  A total of 5245 (4899 with complete data) students participated in the data collection with a mean age of 12.7 (SD=0.8), 48.9% male students.  Multilevel structural equation models were conducted to examine the association between stress, spirituality, and substance use, while accounting for the nested nature of the data (i.e., students within schools). 

Approximately 9.4% of youth reported using at least once substance use in the last month, 11.7% reported that they were always stressed.  Similar to previous research analysis show that stress was significantly associated with youth substance use (Estimate =.391, p<.01), higher stress was associated with higher alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.  In addition, turning to spiritual beliefs when having problems was also significantly associated with substance use (Estimate = .606, p<.01), lower spiritual beliefs was associated with higher substance use.  However, a moderation test of the role spiritual beliefs did not show that spiritual beliefs moderated the relationship between stress and substance use. Implications for increasing students coping mechanisms when confronted with school-related stressors and the role of school climate are discussed.