Social Buffering by God: Prayer and Measures of Stress

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...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Belding, Jennifer N. (Author) ; Howard, Malcolm G. (Author) ; McGuire, Anne M. (Author) ; Schwartz, Amanda C. (Author) ; Wilson, Janie H. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [2010]
In: Journal of religion and health
Year: 2010, Volume: 49, Issue: 2, Pages: 179-187
Further subjects:B Blood Pressure
B Anxiety
B Social buffering
B Stress
B Prayer
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-009-9256-8