Religiousness has been shown to have an inverse relationship with at least some types of addiction. The present study examined whether intrinsic religiousness predicts substance addiction in a sample of participants that included mostly undergraduate students from the Appalachian region, as well as some participants surveyed with the use of social media advertisements. Intrinsic religiousness has been defined as internalizing the tenets of one’s faith. Participants self-reported their religiousness using the Religious Surrender and Attendance Scale – 3 (RSAS-3), which has been shown to measure intrinsic religiousness. Substance use was measured by the TCU Drug Screen V (TCUDS). Religiousness, as measured by the RSAS-3, predicted lower levels of substance use addiction as measured by the TCUDS both continuously and dichotomized: X2 (1, N=517) =8.296, p=.004. The odds ratio for the model was 3.724 95% CI [1.305, 10.625] meaning that the odds of being addicted to a substance was 3.724 times more likely for someone who did not meet the threshold for being high in religious commitment than for someone who did. The present study extends findings regarding religiousness and addiction but further research should be done to analyze different theological traditions and their relationship with health outcomes.

Religious Commitment is a construct known to be predictive of various health-related factors of importance to researchers. However, data collection efficiency and instrument brevity in healthcare settings are priorities regardless of the construct being measured. Brief, valid instruments are particularly valuable in health research and will be vital for testing mechanisms by which health may be improved or maintained. This series of studies aims to demonstrate that Religious Commitment can be validly measured with a very brief instrument, the Religious Surrender & Attendance Scale-3 (RSAS-3), which combines a 2-item measure of Surrender, a specific type of religious coping, with a 1-item measure of Attendance at religious services. Three studies are reported, two utilizing undergraduate university students (Ns = 964 and 466) and one utilizing a clinical-based pregnant population (N = 320), all in southern Appalachia. The original 12-item Surrender Scale, a 2-item subset of Surrender items, and Attendance were found to be highly positively correlated with each other and with Intrinsic Religiosity, an additional measure of Religious Commitment employed to demonstrate concurrent validity. Religiosity variables were found to be strongly negatively correlated with Anxiety and stress, which were the health outcomes of interest. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to confirm the similarity of Anxiety and stress prediction using the 12-item and 2-item Surrender measures and to confirm the superior stress prediction of the 3-item instrument RSAS-3. The RSAS-3 is recommended as a measure of Religious Commitment in future health research.