Prayer, Meditation, and Anxiety: Durkheim Revisited

Prayer and Mental Well-Being in the United States: An Overview of Original and Comprehensive Prayer Data

The Baylor Religion Survey (Wave 6; 2021) contains the most comprehensive set of prayer questions of any national survey of the USA; it also contains multiple indicators of mental health and well-being, specifically measures of happiness, depression, anxiety, sense of control, mattering, and dignity. This paper provides a complete overview of how various dimensions of prayer correlate with these different aspects of well-being. While many of these relationships will require more intensive investigation, our synopsis provides confirmation of past expectations using new data. Overall, we find that prayer is related to mental well-being in both positive and negative ways. Specifically, we find that praying with others and positive emotions felt during prayer are correlated with greater overall mental health and more positive self-concepts. However, we also find that petitionary prayer topics, belief that God is impersonal, and negative emotions felt during prayer coincide with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and a lack of control. Generally, these conclusions hold after controlling for basic demographics, religious tradition, and church attendance, which confirms that mental well-being is related to the practice of prayer in both beneficial and detrimental ways.

The Effect of Combination Prayer Therapy and Education on Pre-operative Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Anxiety

Background: Anxiety is a problem that most often occurs in the pre-operative coronary artery bypass graft surgery stage. The combination of prayer therapy with education is expected to be able to overcome anxiety. The combination of prayer and education therapy have been researched as a potential holistic intervention for reducing anxiety in coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Purpose: This study compares the effect of combination therapy with the golden standard of therapy in hospitals. Methods: A true-experimental design was used. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Data were collected using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire from Spielberger. Findings: Most respondents were elderly, male, high school graduates in the treatment group, and bachelor graduates in the control group. Prayer therapy and education have an effect of 63.8% on reducing anxiety. An increase of 1 constant in the provision of prayer therapy and education can reduce anxiety by 0.772. Conclusions: The combination of prayer therapy and education becomes the holistic nursing modality that can reduce anxiety in pre-operative coronary artery bypass graft patients.

Unpacking the Relationship Between Prayer and Anxiety: A Consideration of Prayer Types and Expectations in the United States

Prayer, considered by some to be the essence of religion, has been a universal behavior throughout human history. Scholars have increasingly recognized that there are different types of prayer and various prayer purposes, but little work has been done to examine their mental health consequences beyond an examination of prayer frequencies. In this study, we draw on nationally representative data from Wave 6 of the Baylor Religion Survey (2021) to examine whether four subtypes of prayer are associated with anxiety: prayer efficacy (the belief that prayer can solve personal and world problems); devotional prayer (praise of God and prayer for the well-being of others); prayers for support (e.g., better health, financial aid); and prayer expectancies (whether God answers prayers). Results suggest that prayer efficacy, prayers for support, and one form of devotional prayer (asking God for forgiveness) all correlate with higher anxiety, while another form of devotional prayer (praise of God) and prayer expectancies are associated with lower anxiety in the American population. We note the importance of capturing multidimensional phenomenon that comprise religious prayer life within the extensive religion and health literature.

Prayers and Mindfulness in Relation to Mental Health among First-Generation Immigrant and Refugee Muslim Women in the USA: An Exploratory Study

The goal of our study was to explore how first-generation immigrant/refugee Muslim women experience prayer and mindfulness in relation to their mental health. Participants were nine women from an urban city in the Midwestern USA. The women completed a structured demographic survey and a virtual semi-structured interview in a focus group. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we obtained four overarching themes from the data: (a) Prayer helps to build community, (b) Prayer promotes wellbeing, (c) Prayer increases faith, and (d) Prayer encourages intentional awareness. The findings demonstrate that prayer involves awareness and has a strong influence on the mental health of the women participants.

Perceptions of Dignity, Attachment to God, and Mental Health in a National US Sample

Dignity is a human characteristic equated with real worth, a sense of moral and social personhood, and should have clear links to mental well-being. Empirical work on perceived dignity is relatively scant, but it stands to reason that one source of dignity might be gathered through religion/spirituality, especially through one's relationship with God or a divine power. In this study, we test whether attachment to God may protect against the hypothesized negative mental health consequences of having low perceptions of dignity. Using nationally representative data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1375), we find that lower perceptions of dignity were associated with higher depression and anxiety. We found that for respondents with low self-perceptions of dignity, stronger feelings of secure attachment to God attenuated (weakened) the otherwise positive association between low dignity and greater depression and anxiety. Taken together, a secure attachment to God could lead believers to confront challenges and problems, including one's dignity being undermined, with confidence and security. We offer future directions for research on an understudied concept in the religion and health literature.

Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Relationship between Prayer Type and Mental Health before and through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The practice of prayer has been shown to predict various mental health outcomes, with different types of prayer accounting for different outcomes. Considering the numerous stressors facing seminary students, which have only intensified throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, prayer may be a common coping strategy for students who study theology, spiritual growth, and leadership. The present study investigates the role that different types of prayer may have in reducing anxiety, depression, and work burnout among seminary students. Experiential avoidance is proposed as a mediator such that specific types of prayer contribute to greater spiritual and characterological formation through staying engaged in the midst of struggle. Longitudinal data was collected from 564 graduate seminary students from 17 institutions accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that experiential avoidance would mediate the relationship between colloquial, liturgical, meditative, and petitionary prayer types and the negative mental health outcomes of anxiety, depression, and work burnout. Results confirmed significant negative relationships between colloquial, liturgical, and meditative prayer types and all three mental health indicators, fully mediated by experiential avoidance. Petitionary prayer was not significantly related to lower levels of mental health. These results indicate that engaging in certain prayer practices may be a protective factor by facilitating experiential engagement.

An Exploratory Study on the Acoustic Musical Properties to Decrease Self-Perceived Anxiety

Musical listening is broadly used as an inexpensive and safe method to reduce self-perceived anxiety. This strategy is based on the emotivist assumption claiming that emotions are not only recognised in music but induced by it. Yet, the acoustic properties of musical work capable of reducing anxiety are still under-researched. To fill this gap, we explore whether the acoustic parameters relevant in music emotion recognition are also suitable to identify music with relaxing properties. As an anxiety indicator, the positive statements from the six-item Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, a self-reported score from 3 to 12, are taken. A user-study with 50 participants assessing the relaxing potential of four musical pieces was conducted; subsequently, the acoustic parameters were evaluated. Our study shows that when using classical Western music to reduce self-perceived anxiety, tonal music should be considered. In addition, it also indicates that harmonicity is a suitable indicator of relaxing music, while the role of scoring and dynamics in reducing non-pathological listener distress should be further investigated.

Gaining Faith, Losing Faith: How Education Shapes the Relationship between Religious Transitions and Later Depression

Using the life course perspective, we assess the "resources" and "risks" to mental health associated with transitions in religious attendance between early life and midlife and how this process may be influenced by education. Drawing on over 35 years of prospective panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, baseline models suggest that stable, frequent attendance accumulated between adolescence to midlife and increases to frequent attendance by adulthood are associated with the lowest depression relative to consistent nonattenders. Individuals who declined in their religious participation report higher depression. Education conditioned this association, whereby declines in religious participation negatively impacted the health of those without a college degree more strongly and increases benefitted the well-educated to a greater extent. We combine insights from the life course perspective and work on social stratification and religiosity to interpret our results and offer directives for future research.

Religious-service attendance and subsequent health and well-being throughout adulthood: evidence from three prospective cohorts

BACKGROUND

Religious-service attendance has been linked with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, suicide and depression. Yet, its associations with other health and well-being outcomes remain less clear.

METHODS

Using longitudinal data from three large prospective cohorts in the USA, this study examined the association between religious-service attendance and a wide range of subsequent physical health, health behaviour, psychological distress and psychological well-being outcomes in separate cohorts of young, middle-aged and older adults. All analyses adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics, prior health status and prior values of the outcome variables whenever data were available. Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple testing.

RESULTS

Estimates combining data across cohorts suggest that, compared with those who never attended religious services, individuals who attended services at least once per week had a lower risk of all-cause mortality by 26% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.65 to 0.84], heavy drinking by 34% (95% CI: 0.59 to 0.73) and current smoking by 29% (95% CI: 0.63 to 0.80). Service attendance was also inversely associated with a number of psychological-distress outcomes (i.e. depression, anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness) and was positively associated with psychosocial well-being outcomes (i.e. positive affect, life satisfaction, social integration, purpose in life), but was generally not associated with subsequent disease, such as hypertension, stroke, and heart disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Decisions on religious participation are generally not shaped principally by health. Nevertheless, for individuals who already hold religious beliefs, religious-service attendance may be a meaningful form of social integration that potentially relates to greater longevity, healthier behaviours, better mental health and greater psychosocial well-being.

The Sociology of Prayer: Dimensions and Mechanisms

The sociology of prayer has a long history and routinely stresses the centrality of prayer to religious belief and ritual solidarity. Still, we have struggled to clearly define the parameters of prayer and the various components of this ubiquitous practice. Drawing from a comprehensive literature review of prayer research, we propose that there are four conceptually distinct dimensions of the private prayer experience which vary across religious cultures and traditions; they are (1) the quantity of prayer, (2) the style of prayer, (3) the purpose of prayer, and (4) prayer targets. Our proposed measures of these dimensions offer researchers a framework to better theorize and investigate the social mechanisms which produce variation in prayer as well as the individual and social outcomes of prayer. In particular, we discuss how each prayer dimension fits within specific theoretical framings to better test the extent to which the emotional, rational, and behavioral elements matter to prayer outcomes.

Who Is Happier in China? Exploring Determinant Factors Using Religion as a Moderator

The relationship between religion and happiness has been seriously understudied in non-Western and non-Islamic societies. Taking religious identity and religious practice as strata, the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data were used to examine the predicting power of health, politics, and social relationships with regard to happiness in four different groups, as follows: People with a religious identity and practice, people with no religious identity but with a practice, people with a religious identity but no practice, and people with neither a religious identity nor practice. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using the Ordinary Least Squares method. The results demonstrate the influence of the independent variables in the four groups, thus confirming the expectation that different religious practices, as well as identities, play a vital role in moderating the degree of happiness. Physical and mental health are significant predictors of happiness regardless of different religious situations, with the effect of mental health here found to be greater in magnitude on happiness than that of physical health. Political participation was not found to be related to happiness, but having a left-wing political attitude did emerge as strongly predicting happiness. The results concerning social relationships further consolidate the hypothesis that religious practice should be taken into consideration separately from religious identity. This study indicates the importance of further investigating religious practice as an independent factor in religious studies in the context of Chinese society.

Religiosity and Health: A Holistic Biopsychosocial Perspective

The resurgence of interest in the influence of religion and spirituality on health is examined within the context of the holistic paradigm and historical connection between nursing and spirituality. While nursing and spirituality often intersect with end-of-life considerations, this article presents findings from studies that demonstrate that religious involvement favors health and longevity across the life course. Examples include protective associations with stress, depression, self-rated health, and infant birth weight. Theoretical and empirical explanations for this relationship are offered, such as social and psychological resources and healthy behaviors. The effects of religion on biological functioning, including allostatic load and telomere length, are also discussed, although this area is understudied. Considerations for the "dark-side" of religious involvement are also offered. Suggestions for nurses wishing to protect and promote the health of their patients using a holistic approach include expanding knowledge of research on religion and health and advocating for patients' spiritual needs by conducting a comprehensive spiritual assessment in primary, secondary, and tertiary clinical settings.