The Role of Prayer on Social Risk Behaviors in Muslim College Students in Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Coping with risky behaviors (social delinquencies) consumes a substantial share of a nation’s budget; however, paying attention to these cases can lead to the prevention and treatment of such risky behaviors. The present study aimed to determine the main and interaction effects of gender and prayer behavior, as a recommended behavior in Islam, on the attitudes of students toward risky behaviors. Methods: This retrospective or ex post facto research aimed to investigate the effects of prayer on the tendency to social risk behaviors in 2019. In total, 340 male and female students from the University of Guilan (169 prayerful & 171 prayerless) were selected by purposive sampling method. Accordingly, the study subjects completed the Attitude on Social Delinquencies Inventory (Aghaei & Teimurtash, 2010). To determine the main and interaction effects of prayer and gender on the total score as well as the dimensions of attitudes to social delinquencies, oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were used in a 2×2 factorial design. Results: Concerning the subscales, the findings suggested that the examined prayerless students were more prone to robbery, free sex relations, suicide, and home escape. At the level of gender differences, regardless of prayer behavior, males were more prone to free sex relations, and home escape, than females. Furthermore, the interaction effects of group membership and gender were only significant on aggression. Thus, the mean scores of aggression tendency were higher in the prayerless male group. Conclusion: The obtained data supported the protective role of prayer behavior in reducing the tendency to risk behaviors (especially aggression in males) in the examined Iranian Muslim students.