Influence of religion and culture on drinking behaviours: a test of hypotheses between Canada and the USA.

American Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant students consume more alcohol and have more alcohol abuse problem compared to Canadian students within the same religious groups. Among abstinent oriented Protestants there was no difference in regards to alcohol consumption or problems related to drinking between the countries. For Jews there were mixed results with Americans exhibiting similar consumption rates but reporting more problems related to drinking compared to the Canadians. Among this sample it was concluded that religious norms have a greater influence in cohesive religious groups while cultural norms are more influential among less cohesive groups. The results also support the Canadian 'Mosaic' and American 'Melting Pot' assumption.