Do religion and religiosity have anything to do with alcohol consumption patterns? Evidence from two fish landing sites on Lake Victoria, Uganda

Abstract

Fish landing sites have high levels of harmful use of alcohol. This paper examines the role of religion and religiosity on alcohol consumption at two fish landing sites on Lake Victoria in Uganda. Questionnaires were administered to randomly selected people at the sites. Dependent variables included alcohol consumption during the previous 30 days, whereas the key independent variables were religion and religiosity. Bivariate and multivariate analysis techniques were applied. People reporting low religiositywere five times more likely to have consumed alcohol (95% confidence interval: 2.45–10.04) compared with those reporting low/average religiosity. Religion and religiosity are potential channels for controlling alcohol use.