Puff, Puff, Pass the Bible: An Empirical Replication Analysis of Religiosity and Attitudes towards Marijuana Legalization
Date
2019-08
Authors
Hernandez, Jasmine M.
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Abstract
Despite marijuana’s lengthy history being negatively framed and labeled by religious and secular institutions, the United States has slowly become more accepting, with various states across the country taking the initiative to legalize medicinal and/or recreational marijuana use. In order to investigate the possible changing attitudes towards marijuana legalization support and their association with an individual’s perceived religiosity level, this study is replicating an empirical study that Daniel James Krystosek (2016) conducted using the same statistical data analysis software (SPSS) and method. In utilizing the more recent 2016 General Social Survey, univariate, bivariate, and multivariate tests were conducted and numerous insights were found. Controlling for demographic, political, and economic covariates, religious service attendance (attachment) and belief in the Bible as God’s word (belief) are found to be significant independent variables, along with the control variables of being from an other race, political ideology (conservative and moderate), gender, marital status, age and education. Compared to Krystosek (2016), my results indicate that religious salience and believing the Bible’s literalness as inspired word are no longer significant and impactful predictors on U.S. opinions towards marijuana legalization support.
Description
Keywords
Religiosity, Marijuana legalization
Citation
Hernandez, J. M. (2019). <i>Puff, puff, pass the bible: An empirical replication analysis of religiosity and attitudes towards marijuana legalization</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.