The Power of Faith: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on Religiosity’s Influence on Smoking, Alcohol, Drug Use, and Internet/Gaming Addiction

Addiction to substances and gadgets is still a global problem. Not only among teenagers, even adults are also vulnerable to getting trapped in it. When addiction occurs, more problems can occur such as impulsive behaviour and loss of self-control. This is why preventive steps should be the first choice over rehabilitative ones. One of the preventive measures that can be taken from an early age is to instil religious behaviour in oneself. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of religiosity on reducing the incidence of substance use and games/internet that potentially cause addiction. This review was conducted based on PRISMA 2020 checklist. Forest plot was made using Review manager v5.4 with Odds ratio as measure effect. The inclusion study characteristics and findings from each study were summarised in an extraction table and then synthesised qualitatively. Overall, both qualitative and quantitative synthesis showed a significant reduction in substance use in the religious group (Pooled OR= 2.29, 95% CI [1.61, 3.27], p<0.00001, I²=94%). Likewise, with the use of games/internet, there was a decrease in the tendency of addiction in the religious group. Higher levels of religiosity were shown to be associated with a decrease in the incidence of substance use and may prevent future addictions that have the potential to cause harm. However, further studies with consistent methods of presenting results are needed so that meta-regression and subgroup analyses can be conducted to obtain more specific result based on sample characteristics.