More Prayer, Less Hope: Empirical Findings on Spiritual Instability

Abstract

Spiritual instability is a spiritual struggle characterized by emotional dysregulation, fear of abandonment, and fear of punishment in relation to the sacred. The present study tested the relationships between spiritual instability, petitionary prayer, and hope among graduate trainees in the helping professions. The sample consisted of 206 graduate students from a Protestant-affiliated university in the United States. Results revealed moderator effect for petitionary prayer in the negative association between spiritual instability and hope. As frequency of petitionary prayer increased the correlation between spiritual instability and hope became increasingly negative. Future directions for research and implications for clinical practice are considered.