Close Ties, Intercessory Prayer, and Optimism Among American Adults: Locating God in the Social Support Network

Abstract

Prayer is often an interpersonal phenomenon. It represents not only a form of social support shared between or among people, but also a means of embedding an unobservable actor (God) within a conventionally observable social network. This study considers whether the receipt of intercessory prayer from close network ties is associated with future‐oriented well‐being. Analyses use social network module data from the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), a nationally representative study of American adults containing a breadth of information not available in prior studies of networks, prayer, and well‐being. Despite experiencing more instances of recent adversity (mental or physical health problem, financial trouble, and unemployment), prayed‐for PALS respondents report the highest levels of optimism. Furthermore, the association between network prayer and optimism is robust to inclusion of individual‐level indicators of religiosity. Finally, other forms of social support that an individual receives from his or her close ties do not explain the benefits of intercessory prayer.

The Influence of Close Ties on Depression: Does Network Religiosity Matter?

“…The fact that residential ties were excluded from the PALS data might actually produce an underestimation of the size of a participants’ network. This, however, should not bias the association between the religious characteristics of core network ties and respondent's mental health (e.g., see Schafer 2013).…”

“…One prior study has looked at whether knowing or believing that network members are offering prayers on the individuals’ behalf is beneficial to one aspect of well‐being. According to Schafer (2013), this knowledge may work through a religious coping mechanism “because it helps [individuals] persevere in their own prayer and stay committed to their faith through difficult times.” In that study, being prayed for by a network member was found to be associated with greater optimism about life. The benefits of being prayed for by a network member may only be available to those for whom religion is salient, and who would appreciate being prayed for because it is consistent with their identity.…”

Spousal Religiosity is Positively Associated with the Partner's Meaning in Life

“…In particular, previous scholarship attaches little importance to the role of religious others in shaping one's own sense of meaning in life. This oversight is noteworthy given that a growing literature reveals that being around religious people is impactful in a person's life (Adamczyk and Felson 2006; Merino 2013; Schafer 2013). For example, Adamczyk and Felson (2006) demonstrate that friends’ religiosity has an independent effect on adolescent sexual behavior.…”

Talking to God Among a Cloud of Witnesses: Collective Prayer as a Meaningful Performance

“…Studies have found that prayer is used as a “coping strategy” for individuals navigating a harsh world (Bade and Cook ; Baker ; Sharp ; Vasconcelos ), that prayer can help foster a “sense of control” in individuals (Ellison and Burdette ), and that individual prayer is positively correlated with mental health benefits (Bradshaw, Ellison, and Flannelly ; McCullough and Larson ; Meisenhelder and Chandler ). Intercessory prayer, or prayer said on behalf of someone else, has also been associated with desirable health outcomes (Hodge ; Schaefer ). Taken together, this stream of work provides strong empirical support for a relationship between individual prayer and presumably positive social and health outcomes.…”

“…While these two streams of work have provided social scientists with a wealth of information on individual prayer, they leave issues of collective prayer largely unexplored. Prayer, whether individual or collective, is inherently social (Pagis 2013;Schaefer 2013;Wuthnow 2008), and collective prayer is part of the meaningful practice of communities. Studies that examine faith groups find that the styles, emotions, languages, and actions involved in prayer are socially situated and learned, ultimately helping us understand the wider norms and practices that shape the behavior of praying groups and individuals (Barnes and Sered 2005;Cerulo and Barra 2008;Griffith 1997;Loveland et al 2005;Patillo-McCoy 1998;Sered 2005;Tavory 2013).…”