Spirituality and religion as protectors for adolescent drug use

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to identify the available evidence in the literature on the importance of religion/spirituality as protectors for drug use. METHODS: This is an integrative literature review. The descriptors used were: “spirituality,” “religion,” “adolescent,” “illicit drugs,” “alcoholism,” and “smoking.” The databases used were: LILACS, PubMed and CINAHL. RESULTS: found a protective effect of religiosity and spirituality in preventing drug use, being justified by less interaction of adolescents with deviant peers, conservative attitudes of friends and high levels of well-being. CONCLUSIONS: to bring to light the positive effect that religiosity and spirituality could contribute to professionals involved with teens and launch interventions aimed at reducing the consumption of drugs in this group.