Does Alcohol and Religion Affect Satisfaction with Life?

One factor that has been shown to promote well-being among people is religion (Amirian et al., 2015). Research has also demonstrated that religious college students drink less (Carmack & Lewis, 2016. People who were religious and had an existential well-being were less likely to consume alcohol. (VonDras et al., 2007). However, no research has considered the combined impact of both age at onset of alcohol use and religious belief on well-being. In this study I hypothesized that college students who started drinking when they were younger are less happy than those who started drinking later. I also hypothesize that non-religious college students will be less happy than religious college students. My final hypothesis is that non-religious college students started to drink earlier than religious college students. Participants of this study consisted of approximately 25 college-aged students in Northern California. The study consists of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985), the Student Alcohol Questionnaire (Engs, 1975), and the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (Underwood, 2002). I expect to find that participants who started to drink younger and are less religious will be less satisfied with their lives than participants who didn’t drink until later and are religious. This research is important because alcohol is present in all college campuses across America, and it’s common for it to be used in excess. If college students can see the possible reality of their lives due to excessive alcohol use then maybe they will be less likely to consume alcohol in general