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Religion, Spirituality, Well-Being and Praying the Rosary: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study from Germany.

Michael Teut, Benno Brinkhaus, Barbara Stöckigt, Sylvia Binting, Michael K Elies, Christian Zwingmann, Florian Jeserich

Journal of Religion and Health December 14, 2024 DOI: 10.1007/s10943-024-02210-5 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed
Sample size 164
Population People who pray the Rosary, recruited online; 92% Roman Catholic, 61% women
Topics Meditation
Keywords Humans Cross-sectional studies Personal satisfaction Religion and psychology Spirituality Catholicism Middle aged Germany Female Young adult Surveys and questionnaires Well-being Prayer Rosary
Key findings Religion/spirituality measures were highly intercorrelated (r 0.64 to 0.91) and showed small associations with well-being (r 0.10 to 0.20). The authors report that the connection between religion/spirituality and well-being was stronger among participants with more positive prayer experiences, and propose that positive prayer experiences may act as an amplifier or emotional affirmation of the 'rightness' or 'effectiveness' of one's faith.

Abstract

Rosary prayer is a popular Catholic meditative prayer practice and has been used since the thirteenth century. The aim of this study is to describe characteristics, prayer practice, religiosity and piety of those practicing the prayer and to investigate whether and how religion/spirituality (R/S) and well-being are related in this specific population. An online cross-sectional survey was performed between June and September 2022 which included items on sociodemographic data, prayer practice, well-being, religiosity and spirituality, transpersonal trust and spiritual meaning. Results were described descriptively, and a possible relationship between R/S and well-being was examined using correlational and moderator analyses. In total, 164 participants who pray the Rosary completed the online questionnaire. A total of 92% of the participants belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 61% of the sample were women. A majority of participants reported to be very religious/spiritual (36%) or quite religious/spiritual (47%). Most participants experienced the prayer as a calming and relaxing practice, which slows down the breathing and the awareness in the prayer being focused on the prayer beads. Most of the participants expressed a high-to-very high transpersonal trust. All R/S measures used in this study are highly intercorrelated (r between 0.64 and 0.91) and show similar small-size associations (r between 0.10 and 0.20) with well-being. Moderator analysis shows that the connection between R/S and well-being was stronger among those with more positive prayer experiences. Subjectively perceived positive prayer experiences may act as an amplifier or emotional affirmation of the "rightness" or "effectiveness" of one's faith and this very amplification may have a strengthening effect on the relationship between R/S and well-being. The interaction of R/S and well-being in Rosary praying and other meditative techniques should be a major topic of future research.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups 2008 Cross-sectional study
Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants 2007 Observational cross-sectional n = 27
Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents 2011 Cross-sectional validation study n = 1,413
Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators 2012 Cross-sectional study n = 152
Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates 2008 Cross-sectional, correlational

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