Subscribe RSS FeedMaybe it’s a sign of troubling times in general, or maybe it’s a direct response to the way health insurance costs have risen over the past several years, but apparently the number of American adults who are praying about their health issues rose 36 percent from 199 to 2007.
This information comes from a study recently published by the American Psychological Association. The researchers involved looked at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’ National Health Interview surveys for the years 1999, 2002, and 2007, and focused mainly on comparing the results of the latter two surveys which included responses from 30,080 adults from 44,540 households in 2002 and 23,393 adults from 40,377 households in 2007.
According to the study’s lead author, Amy Wachholtz, PhD, from the University of Massachusetts medical School, “The United States did have an increase in worship attendance across multiple religious faiths immediately after the 9/11 attack, but that has not stayed elevated. However, people continued to use informal and private spiritual practices such as prayer. There is also a greater public awareness of Buddhist-based mindfulness practices that can include prayerful meditation, which individuals may also be using to address a variety of health concerns.”
Increased prayer was noted in people whose health dramatically declined as well as those whose health significantly improved, suggesting that it was a method of coping with the changing circumstances of their health, according to the study.
A greater amount of prayer was noted in most demographic groups, though those with higher incomes were less likely to pray about their health than those with lower incomes. The most likely people to pray about health conditions were the well-educated, women, and African-Americans.
However, while prayer was used by people with good incomes and decent medical insurance, Wachholtz pointed out that, “People are not exchanging health insurance for prayer.”
