Do happy people drink less alcohol? The Impact of Psychological Wellbeing on Alcohol Use: Examining the role of Religiousness.
Introduction
Alcohol use in the student population is a well-documented phenomenon (e.g. Turrisi, Mallett, Mastroleo, & Larimer, 2006). A plethora of psychological research investigating various factors may predict the extent of an individual’s drinking behaviour. One such factor is religiousness, which includes the belief in and practice of any established religion. The research in this field also takes into account “other” spiritual orientations such as agnosticism and atheism. Studies have consistently found that low religiousness in students is associated with heavier alcohol use (Wells, 2010; Koenig, 2001; Dulin, Hill & Ellingson 2006; Nelms, Hutchins, Hutchins & Pursley, 2007). Expanding upon these findings, researchers have suggested that such factor as psychological wellbeing is important in understanding these differences in levels of alcohol use. Empirical evidence has found that heavier drinking in students can be used as a method of coping with negative emotions (Cooper, Russell, Skinner, Frone, & Mudar, 1992; Farber, Khavari, & Douglass, 1980); whilst Aldridge-Gerry, Roesch, Villodas, McCabe, Leung and Costa (2011) and Menagi (2008) argue that students who instead turn to their religion in times of stress use alcohol less. The ability to cope with negative emotions such as stress has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing (WHO, 2001). Negative emotions are a normal part of people’s lives, but when they are very long lasting or extreme they can significantly impair psychological wellbeing. Although psychological wellbeing is mainly associated with positive emotions such joy, sat...
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...from De Montfort University (N=103). All students participated in this study as a part of their course requirement, achieving 45 credits on RPS scheme. Seventy-one female and 32 male students took part in this research. All of the students were aged from 18 to 49, with the overall mean age 22.62 (SD=5.67). Participants lived in the same geographical area and consisted of people from different religion and cultural backgrounds. There were 4 main religion group classified in this research: 39.8 % of respondents declared themselves as Christians, 38.8 % Not-religious, 14.6 % Muslim and 6.8 % Hindu. Students spoke in English and were able to understand all questions given to them.
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The survey was carried out in Leicester in pre-booked research rooms at De Montfort University. Students were taking part in this research during theirs free slots at University.
Our case study begins with a story of a young woman, Karen, in high school. She drinks to make herself more outgoing, performing to make more friends. She drank often during that time with friends. Later in life, adulthood revolved around drinking with her husband and friends. Alcohol continued to be a personality enhancement making it easier to party with friends and even clients or customers. It was not uncommon to drink on the job since her drinking gave her the confidence to engage with customers or clients. In her opinion, life was great. That is until her boss noticed a potential problem and confronted her about it.
“Alcoholic Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism (Alcoholic Anonymous, p. 1).” Spiritually is believed to play a major role in helping members of Alcoholic Anonymous remain sober. It is suggested that Alcoholic Anonymous and the inclusion of religion is based on a suggestion Carl Jung made to one of his alcoholic patient. Carl Jung was a psychiatrist who at times worked with persons suffering from alcoholism.
Hinduism and Christianity are two religions that have been around for thousands of years. Both of these religions have developed many philosophies on different aspects that can be compared to show their similarities and differences. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things. Based on humanity, our society follows some of the rules also because of the religion and laws. From the holy literature, there have been many different concepts that have been pledged but they all are supposed to lead you to the same effects such as a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us humans, and some kind of freedom after death. Some of the main subjects that can be reflected upon after learning of the history and fundamentals of these religions are the paths to enlightenment and/or salvation, the style of treating women through religions aspects, and the afterlife. This paper will give an analytic comparison of these two religions relating to the topics.
In response to the question set, I will go into detail of the study, consisting of the background, main hypotheses, as well the aims, procedure and results gathered from the study; explaining the four research methods chosen to investigate, furthering into the three methods actually tested.
Religion cannot be lived in textbooks, it is about the personal consciousness of those that believe and “their own account of their religion and its relevance in contemporary life” (Fisher, 1996). It is performed, experienced by the individuals living within society and communities. For some it is a sense of hope, to connect with a supreme power, to end the cycle of birth and death, find inner peace and/or a way of life. Traditional understanding of religion through textbooks, television, and internet does provide one with understanding about the religion doctrine and what they believe in. The majority of people will know what religion is when seeing it, for example, a Buddhist Monk sitting cross-legged in meditation. However, it is important to study religion off campus in order to grasp an explanation and a clear understanding of how beliefs change personal lives, how individuals tackle certain situations due to belief for example, Buddhist Monk sitting cross-legged in meditation, but w...
Because of these applications and implications in human lives and existence, religion should be understood deeply, particularly, on how it affects the world. Looking at the American perspective of the term "religion," it could be simply understood as images of church, worship, traditions and other sacred pilgrimages. However, religion is more than that. It bears and carries heavier implications and definitions that cannot be merely based on practical applications and references. This influenced the overall development of their cognitive skills and emotional capacities.
It is predicted that in the 21st century there will be a jump in the number of people identifying themselves as Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. At the same time, in recent years, there has been a decl...
Religion is big part of human life. Every area of the world has some kind of religion or belief system. Religion is defined as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” (“Religion” Def.2). With such a large amount of religions today, religion is widely variegated, usually with divisions in each one. Despite the large amount of religions, I will only be covering only three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
Although there are many religions in the world that have affected the lives and cultures of many people it is clear that most of the historical developments that have affected the way people now live seem to have been greatly influenced by the three religions with close relationships to each other resulting in being clustered together as the Abrahamic faiths. While there are many differences among the three most populous religions called the Abrahamic faith (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), there are a number of similarities that deserve a closer look. In this article will look at three major similarities. At times there may be more similarities between any two of them but dissimilarity with the third. For instance, on the personality and
Western society is quick to judge a person’s drinking level; an individual must drink but must not consume too much. The values of drinking are heavily rampant in society’s media appearing in television shows, movies, and songs. Society takes these media messages and then internalizes them; creating social behaviors such as drinking games and drinking buddies (Young, 2011). There is no set guidelines to determine that a person is an alcoholic however there are social cues, “At the group level, social norms research e...
. There are many reasons why people start consuming alcohol, such as to increase self-confidence, escape from personal problems, relieve stress, overcome a poor self-image or to overcome shyness. Alcohol is defined as the use of alcohol interfering with social, academic, physical, or economic functioning. There are many stages on how alcohol affects a person. The first stage of alcoholism involves the use of alcoholism as a way to deal with other problems. The abuser will drink more than the average amount and is usually preoccupied with for example, partying or going out socially to drink. The abuser will also drink to cope with personal problems, have trouble stopping after one drink, and they’ll feel guilty about drinking so much. The drinker
...tz, Hans-Georg; Lewis, Christopher Alan. “The Relationship Between Religion and Happiness Among German Students.” Pastoral Psychology. 51.4 (2003): 273-281. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 19 June 2015.
Alcoholism is a continuing stressor, not only for the alcoholic but also for the family members. Drinking and intoxication can also adversely affect intimate and family relations, and friendships. The researchers are of the opinion that alcoholics are not “weak” or “immoral”. They have the real disease or difficulty caused by the combination of factors including environmental influence, difficulties in emotion regulation, biological make up, stress, depression, and anxiety (Marks, 2014). When looking at alcoholism from a family systems perspective, it is considered an important aspect of family life that must be addressed in order for the family to survive the effects of alcoholism. The hope is that if one member of the
Religion plays an enormous role in the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over it, lives have been surrounded by it, and it has directly or indirectly shaped the lives of many individuals. Culture and religion play a large role in developing each other. People’s religion is decided by their culture. The prominence or the lack of religion will develop someone’s religious identity have play a core role in determining what that person believes.
The research methods that I used for this paper were surveys, interviews and observations. I performed a survey on ten college students in which I asked various yes and no questions and ones with various multiple-choice answers. Do you have a meal ...