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Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 193-197, 2002
© 2002 Medical Council on Alcohol

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICE, AND ALCOHOL USE IN THAI MEN

Sawitri Assanangkornchai,*, Katherine M. Conigrave1 and John B. Saunders2

Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai, Songkhla, 90110 Thailand,
1 Departments of Medicine, Psychological Medicine and Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney, and the Drug and Alcohol Department, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales and
2 Centre for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia

Received 8 January 2001; first review notified 31 July 2001; accepted 28 August 2001

Buddhism, the Thai state religion, teaches that use of intoxicants should be avoided. Nonetheless, many Thai people drink alcohol, and a proportion are alcohol-dependent or hazardous or harmful drinkers. This study examines the relationship between Buddhist upbringing and beliefs and alcohol use disorders in Thai men. Three groups, comprising 144 non/infrequent/light drinkers, 77 hazardous/ harmful drinkers and 91 alcohol dependents were interviewed regarding their early religious life and current religious practices and beliefs. No protective association was shown between early religious life and later alcohol use disorders; indeed, having lived as a boy in a temple for a period was commoner in those with adult alcohol problems. Few subjects reported frequent involvement in current religious activities (9, 8 and 6% in the non/infrequent/light drinkers, hazardous/harmful drinkers, and alcohol dependents respectively). Hazardous/harmful drinkers [odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.2–0.9] and alcohol dependents (OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.2–0.9) were less likely to report being moderately to strongly religious, than were non/infrequent/light drinkers. Understanding the association between religious beliefs and drinking behaviour can potentially assist in the development of prevention and treatment programmes.


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