Frequency Of Personal Prayer Research Articles

Surrogate Decision-Making After Stroke in a Community Setting: The OASIS Project.

Patients with severe stroke often rely on surrogate decision-makers for life-sustaining treatment decisions. We investigated ethnic differences between Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals in surrogate reports of physician quality of communication and shared decision-making from the OASIS study (Outcomes Among Surrogate Decision Makers in Stroke) project. Patients had ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage in Nueces County, TX. Surrogates self-identified as being involved in decisions about do-not-resuscitate orders, brain surgery, ventilator, feeding tube, or hospice/comfort care. Surrogate reports of physician quality of communication (scale score, range from 0 to 10) and shared decision-making (CollaboRATE scale score, binary score 1 versus 0) were compared by ethnicity with linear or logistic regression using generalized estimating equations, adjusted for prespecified demographics, clinical factors, and confounders. Between April 2016 and September 2020, 320 surrogates for 257 patients with stroke enrolled (MA, 158; NHW, 85; and other, 14). Overall quality of communication score was better among surrogates of MA patients than NHW individuals after adjustment for demographics, stroke severity, and patient survival though the ethnic difference was attenuated (β, 0.47 [95% CI, -0.17 to 1.12]; P=0.15) after adjustment for trust in the medical profession and frequency of personal prayer. High CollaboRATE scale scores were more common among surrogates of MA patients than NHW individuals (unadjusted odds ratio, 1.75 [95% CI, 1.04-2.95]). This association persisted after adjustment for demographic and clinical factors though there was an interaction between patient age and ethnicity (P=0.04), suggesting that this difference was primarily in older patients. Surrogate decision-makers of MA patients generally reported better outcomes on validated measures of quality of communication and shared decision-making than NHW individuals. Further study of outcomes among diverse populations of stroke surrogate decision-makers may help to identify sources of strength and resiliency that may be broadly applicable.

Personal prayer, worship attendance and spiritual wellbeing: a study among fourth, fifth and sixth class students attending Church of Ireland schools in the Republic of Ireland

This study examines the associations between frequency of personal prayer, frequency of worship attendance and spiritual wellbeing among 468 students attending fourth, fifth and sixth classes within 18 Church of Ireland schools located in one diocese in the Republic of Ireland. Spiritual wellbeing is measured by a modified form of the Fisher 16-item instrument Feeling Good, Living Life (assessing quality of relationships across four domains: self, family, nature, and God). The data demonstrate that frequency of personal prayer is a much stronger predictor than frequency of worship attendance in respect of spiritual wellbeing. This finding is consistent with the view that personal prayer is a key factor in the formation of individual spirituality.

Why are women more religious than men? Testing the explanatory power of personality theory among undergraduate students in Wales

This study tests the explanatory power of personality-based psychologically grounded theories to account for the well-established finding within the psychology of religion that within Christian and post-Christian contexts women are more religious than men. A sample of 1682 undergraduate students in Wales completed the short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised together with the adult form of the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity and measures of frequency of church attendance, and frequency of personal prayer. These data confirm that women record higher levels of religiosity and lower levels of psychoticism, and demonstrate that psychoticism is the strongest predictor of individual differences in religiosity. Multiple-regression analyses show that, when individual differences in personality are taken into account, biological sex adds no further impact on religiosity. This finding suggests that higher levels of religiosity among women may be interpreted as a function of basic psychological differences in levels of psychoticism rather than as a sociological function of being female.

The internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the New Indices of Religious Orientation (NIRO) among cathedral worshippers in the United Kingdom

Building on the work of Francis among a sample of students, this study examined the psychometric properties of The New Indices of Religious Orientation among 432 worshippers in five Anglican cathedrals in England and Wales. The data demonstrated that all the indices achieved satisfactory alpha coefficients for both the full scale (extrinsic, 0.79; intrinsic, 0.76; and quest, 0.75) and the short form (extrinsic, 0.70, intrinsic, 0.79; and quest, 0.70). The construct validity of the New Indices of Religious Orientation was supported by examination against self-reported frequency of personal prayer. These findings suggest that the scales provide a satisfactory measure of religious orientation among a religious sample.

Religiosity and psychological well‐being

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between religiosity and psychological well-being in a sample of Greek Orthodox Christians. Previous research has documented that personal devotion, participation in religious activities, and religious salience are positively associated with different criteria of psychological well-being. The sample (83 men and 280 women) with an age range from 18 to 48 years, was strongly skewed with respect to sex (77% female) and education level (95% were university students or university graduates). Religiosity was operationalized as church attendance, frequency of prayer and belief salience. In addition, a single item referring to beliefs about God was used. Depression, anxiety, loneliness, and general life satisfaction were selected as dependent variables because they reflect important dimensions of psychological well-being. Preliminary analyses showed that sex was significantly related to the three religiosity variables (church attendance, frequency of prayer, belief salience), with women being more religious than men. Consistent with previous research, correlations suggested that church attendance and belief salience were associated with better life satisfaction. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant positive association between anxiety and frequency of personal prayer. Finally, personal beliefs about God did not seem to relate to any of the psychological well-being measures. The results of the present study partially support the hypothesized association between religiosity and psychological well-being.

The Impact of Personality and Religion on Attitudes toward Alcohol among 16–18 Year Olds in Northern Ireland

Background: Previous research demonstrates a negative relationship between attitude toward alcohol and religiosity. However, what is less apparent is if this relationship may, at least in part, be a function of individual differences in personality, as previous research has demonstrated a relationship between certain measures of personality and both attitude toward alcohol and attitude toward religiosity. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of personality and the relative efficacy of different markers of religiosity in predicting attitude toward alcohol among a sample of 16–18 year olds in Northern Ireland. Method: The Francis Scale of Attitude toward Alcohol (Francis, 1992c. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 31, 45–50) was administered alongside the Abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(4), 443–449), the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 741–743) and measures of frequency of personal prayer and church attendance among a sample of 243 16- to 18-year-old sixth-form students in Northern Ireland. Results and conclusion: The data demonstrate that a more prohibitive attitude toward alcohol was correlated with lower psychoticism scores (tendermindedness) and a more positive attitude toward Christianity. Multiple-regression analyses confirm the importance of attitude toward religion in predicting individual differences in attitude toward alcohol.

Purpose in Life and Prayer Among Catholic and Protestant Adolescents in Northern Ireland

Data are provided from a sample of 2,670 young people aged between 13 and 15 years from Northern Ireland. This article compares the replies of 1,206 young people who attend a Catholic school and 1,464 young people who attend a Protestant school. The data examine the relationship between frequency of personal prayer, perceived purpose in life, sex, age, church attendance, and personality (extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism). These data demonstrate a clear relationship between frequency of prayer and perceived purpose in life among the young people from the Protestant and Catholic communities.

Personality, prayer and church attendance among a sample of 11 to 18 year olds in Norway

A series of recent studies has employed various measures of Eysenck's dimensional model of personality alongside questions of frequency of personal prayer and church attendance. The consensus from these studies suggests it is psychoticism, rather than extraversion or neuroticism that is fundamental to a greater frequency of personal prayer and church attendance. The present study tested the generalizability of these findings by examining the association between measure of personal prayer and church attendance and the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire among a sample of 479 11- to 18-year-old Norwegian school children. For the total sample a significant association was found between a greater frequency of both personal prayer and church attendance and lower psychoticism scores. These findings are consistent with previous research and with Eysenck's theory regarding individual differences in social attitudes.

Religious orientation and psychological well‐being: The role of the frequency of personal prayer

Objectives. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of religious acts within the relationship between measures of religious orientation and psychological well‐being, to examine the theoretical view that religion can act as a coping mechanism. Design. Correlational statistics, principal components analysis with oblimin rotation and multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between a number of religiosity and psychological well‐being measures. Method. A sample of 474 UK students (251 males, 223 females) were administered questionnaire measures of three aspects of religious orientation (intrinsic, extrinsic, Quest), frequency of personal prayer and church attendance, alongside measures of depressive symptoms, trait anxiety and self‐esteem. Results. Though a number of significant correlations were found between measures of religiosity and psychological well‐being, a multiple regression analysis using identifiable religious components suggests that frequency of personal prayer is the dominant factor in the relationship between religiosity and psychological well‐being. Conclusions. The results suggest two points: (1) that the correlations between a number of measures of religiosity and psychological well‐being may be mediated by the relationship between frequency of personal prayer and psychological well‐being; (2) that personal prayer may be an important variable to consider within the theory of religious coping.

Personality correlates of religiosity among adults in the Republic of Ireland.

This study examined the relationship between measures of personal religiosity (religious attitude, frequency of personal prayer), a measure of public religiosity (church attendance), and the Abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire among 216 adults in the Republic of Ireland. A significant negative correlation was found between scores on psychoticism and on the three measures of religiosity among men (religious attitude, -.36; frequency of personal prayer, -.40; and frequency of church attendance, -.30) and among women (religious attitude, -.40; frequency of personal prayer, -.47; and frequency of church attendance, -.31). No significant relationship was found between any of the religiosity measures and the other measures contained within the Eysenck scores. A further analysis of the data suggests that the relationship for measures of public religiosity with low psychoticism is only a facet of the relationship between public and personal religiosity. These findings add to a growing body of research which locates religiosity within the psychoticism dimension of Eysenck's model of personality and adds to prior suggestions that this approach is applicable only to personal aspects of religiosity.

Personality and Prayer Among Churchgoing Methodists in England

A sample of 148 male and 227 female adults attending Methodist churches completed the short‐form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with an index on frequency of personal prayer. No significant correlations were found between personality and prayer.

Reliability and validity of the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity (adult) among Northern Irish university students

To facilitate the use of the adult form of the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity in Northern Ireland, the reliability and construct validity of the scale was examined among a sample of239 male and 459 female Northern Irish uni versity students. Respondents completed the Francis scale and also answered questions about the frequency of personal prayer and Church attendance. Support was found for the reliability, unidimensionality and construct validity of the scale among both male and female Northern Irish university students. The Francis scale is commended for research in Northern Ireland.

PERSONALITY, PRAYER AND CHURCH ATTENDANCE IN LATER LIFE

A sample of fifty retired civil servants completed the abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with indices concerned with frequency of church attendance and frequency of personal prayer. The data demonstrate that both measures of religiosity are inversely related to psychoticism and independent of extraversion and neuroticism.

Personality, Prayer, and Church Attendance in a Sample of Male College Students in the USA

Recent studies have suggested that, within Eysenck's dimensional model of personality, psychoticism rather than extraversion or neuroticism is fundamental to both positive religious attitude and frequency of religious practice. 1995 data of Maltby were further analysed to examine the relationship between the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated and frequency of personal prayer and church attendance among 100 male college students in the USA. A significant negative association was found between scores on the Psychoticism scale and frequency of personal prayer, with lower Psychoticism scores being associated with greater frequency in personal prayer. However, no significant association was found between scores on the Psychoticism scale and frequency of church attendance or between frequency of personal prayer and frequency of church attendance. These findings therefore only partly replicate those of Maltby among female students in the USA and lend some further support to the view that psychoticism is fundamental to religiosity.

Personality and prayer among adult churchgoers

A sample of 885 adults who attend church at least monthly completed the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with a question about frequency of personal prayer. The data demonstrate that only 63 % of regular churchgoers pray daily. Moreover Eysenck's dimensional model of personality is unable to predict individual differences in the practice of personal prayer among churchgoers, in spite of having the capability of generating theoretically rich hypotheses about such differences. The psychological roots of prayer continue to elude personality theory.

INSIGHTS FROM SCHOLARSHIP THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL PRAYER AND PURPOSE IN LIFE AMONG CHURCHGOING AND NON‐CHURCHGOING TWELVE‐TO‐FIFTEEN‐YEAR‐OLDS IN THE UK

Abstract The relationship between personal prayer and perceived purpose in life is explored among two samples of twelve‐to‐fifteen‐year‐olds. The first sample comprises 914 males and 726 females who never attend church. The second sample comprises 232 males and 437 females who attend church most weeks. The data demonstrate a significant positive relationship between frequency of personal prayer and perceived purpose in life among both groups.

PERSONALITY AND PRAYER AMONG ADULT CHURCHGOERS: A REPLICATION

A sample of 398 adult churchgoers completed the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992) together with an index of frequency of personal prayer. No significant relationships were found between personality and prayer.