Title |
Social Buffering by God: Prayer and Measures of Stress
|
---|---|
Published in |
Journal of Religion and Health, May 2009
|
DOI | 10.1007/s10943-009-9256-8 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Jennifer N. Belding, Malcolm G. Howard, Anne M. McGuire, Amanda C. Schwartz, Janie H. Wilson |
Abstract |
Social buffering is characterized by attenuation of stress in the presence of others, with supportive individuals providing superior buffering. We were interested in learning if the implied presence of a supportive entity, God, would reduce acute stress. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: prayer, encouraging self-talk, and control. They were subsequently placed in a stressful situation. Self ratings of stress were lower among the prayer and self-talk conditions relative to controls. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures only among those who prayed were lower than controls; however, prayer and self-talk did not differ. Prayer alone did not significantly reduce stress, perhaps because the majority of students in the prayer condition did not consider reading a prayer to constitute praying. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 44 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 9 | 20% |
Student > Master | 8 | 18% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 11% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 4 | 9% |
Researcher | 4 | 9% |
Other | 8 | 18% |
Unknown | 6 | 14% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 22 | 50% |
Social Sciences | 3 | 7% |
Arts and Humanities | 2 | 5% |
Environmental Science | 2 | 5% |
Neuroscience | 2 | 5% |
Other | 6 | 14% |
Unknown | 7 | 16% |