Development of the religion, alcohol and drug questionnaire for college students

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Religion Alcohol and Drug Questionnaire for college students through the use of Exploratory Factor Analysis. The questionnaire includes an author-constructed Influence of Religion scale and employed a modified version of the Alcohol Use Disorders and Identification Test (AUDIT). The sample consisted of 418 undergraduate students' ages 18 to 25 years attending a large public university in the southeastern United States. Participants were recruited in a convenience sample from classroom settings. After screening, 408 questionnaires were entered for analysis. Sixty-five percent of the respondents were females with the majority of students under the age of 21, (62%). Among the participants 67% were Caucasian, 15% African-American and 12% Hispanic; 19% were Freshmen, 27% Sophomores, 23% Juniors and 32% Seniors. Finally, 88% of the participants reported having a religious affiliation. Factor analyses revealed a 28-item Influence of Religion scale. A principal axis factor analysis using an orthogonal rotation resulted in three conceptually consistent factors that explained 77% of the variance, Benefit Beliefs (n=10), Harm Deterrent Beliefs (n=9) and Belief Behaviors (n=9). The measure included an inverse relationship to heavy drinking, providing evidence of predictive validity. The scale was not related to age, student grades, or where they lived, providing evidence of divergent validity. Convergent validity was demonstrated thru comparison analysis with an analogous spirituality scale. Implications for use as an assessment tool exploring whether religious beliefs and religious behavior beliefs act as protective factors among college students will be discussed.