Individual religiosity, moral community, and drug user treatment

Some scholars have suggested that individual religiosity inhibits deviant b ehavior: Others have suggested that behavior is more responsive to the infl uence of religiously-oriented moral communities than to the religiosity of individuals. Still others have suggested that non-religious moral communiti es, such as sports teams or self-help recovery groups, are just as effectiv e as religious moral communities. The current article examines the associat ions between addicts' reductions in drug and alcohol use and religiosity, i ncrease in church attendance, and increase in addiction self-help recovery group attendance, following participation irt publicly funded treatment pro grams. Results indicate that increase in self-help recovery group attendanc e and church attendance were independently associated with reduction in alc ohol use. Only increase in church attendance was significantly associated w ith reduction in cocaine use. Self-assessed religious conviction was not as sociated with changes in drug use.