Saturday, March 8, 1997

Spirituality can help keep kids away from drugs and alcohol, experts say

By Peggy May

Northwest Florida Daily News

It's spirituality - not just going to church - that works as a positive force to persuade young people to avoid drugs and alcohol.

That's the opinion of two researchers at Brigham Young University, which has been called "one of the nation's premier laboratories for family studies" by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Bruce A. Chadwick is a sociologist and director of the university's Center for Studies of the Family in Provo, Utah. Brent L. Top is a member of the school's religion faculty, who has worked closely with Chadwick to study the religion-drug connection.

Their data, compiled over the past 20 years, show that public attendance at church, particularly if it's forced by parents, doesn't help much to keep kids away from addicting substances. But the young people's own spiritual experiences do make a difference.

Craig Boydston, a family therapist-counselor at Bridgeway Center Inc. in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who's also a Mormon, agrees with the researchers."Teens who have strong internalized values, who pray, who have a relationship with the Heavenly Father, and who feel the presence of the Holy Spirit are more likely to stand up to peer pressure. Companionship with the Holy Spirit is very important," he says.

"Adolescence is a turmoil time. They feel isolated. In faithful, religious families, there's a greater sense of bonding, so that it's hard to get kids broken off into a negative peer group."

But being in the church can't protect teens against all the bad influences.

"There are modern evils in any church. We're all fighting the same battles. None of us is immune or protected from those influences. We can't just take that safety for granted."

It's important for parents to instill the religious, moral, and ethical values, "then stand back a little. Give them choices."

Parents shouldn't be too harsh, Boydston says.

"We're admonished not to be overly authoritarian - not to use God like a battering ram. (We should) influence through love and example."

Life will go more smoothly for those who are "serious about applying those principles of Jesus to our families."

Acceptance of responsibility usually can be found in faithful families, Boydston says.

"It's the tendency of people who are religious to own responsibility and not push it off on someone else. They can work through their crises. If people won't accept responsibility, and the blaming goes on, the level of contention goes up."

As adolescent rebellion kicks in, and with it, the possibility of using alcohol and drugs, keeping together is important.

"Families who do things together protect themselves from the distrust generated by rebellion," Boydston says.

Jim Gwyn heads the substance abuse program at Eglin Air Force Base, near Fort Walton Beach, Fla., after working at Bridgeway from 1987 to 1991. He also is the pastor at New Hope Christian Center.

"Every major religion is against alcohol and drugs," says Gwyn, who teaches an in-patient class on spirituality once a month at Eglin.

"Getting actively involved with your synagogue or church is important. Watching televangelists at home won't do it," he says.

Having a religious or spiritual center in their lives helps teens when they do go astray, he says.

"When you drink or do drugs, you know you're wrong. You feel shame or guilt. Apart from the spiritual realm, there's nothing in our society that will tell you not to do it. At ball games, at business meetings, in homes, the message today is more and more that you should be drinking."

To counteract this, parents should be good examples.

"The youths will see you practicing what you preach, they'll observe your behavior, see you being in control instead of out of control."

Today's teens "emulate what they see in other folks - athletes on cocaine, yet still earning big money, still popular, so these teens may think, I'm already in trouble. What's the point?' "