The Association of Prayer Frequency and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: A Comparative Study of the USA, India and Turkey

Journal of Religion and Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-022-01649-8 ORIGINAL PAPER The Association of Prayer Frequency and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: A Comparative Study of the USA, India and Turkey Michael Babula1 Accepted: 18 August 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022 Abstract This study explores whether Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Inglehart’s values paradigm underlies associations between prayer frequency and happiness. Responses from a comparative analysis of wave six from the World Values Survey for India (n = 4078), Turkey (n = 1605) and the USA (n = 2232) were used to examine associations between prayer frequency and happiness. Prayer frequency interacted with Maslow’s model to associate with happiness in India and Turkey. The self-expression variables entirely supplant prayer and are associated with happiness in the USA. The implications are discussed for generating models that impact happiness. Keywords Prayer · Happiness · The USA · India · Turkey Introduction Does Prayer Frequency Associate with Happiness? This comparative study explores whether prayer frequency interacts with a sequence of human motivational development in associating with happiness. This is an important area of research, given that happiness may help alleviate the increase in mental health disorders and depression observed over the past two decades (see Johnson, 2018; Patel et al., 2018). Engaging often in prayer may allow people to move beyond ruminating on negative life experiences such as unemployment, unsanitary conditions, or lack of quality shelter. The ability to break the cycle of depression resulting from rumination has been reported in specific prayer-related treatments such as Benson and Klipper’s (1992) relaxation response. Johnson’s (2018) review of the * Michael Babula 1 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE 13 Vol.:(0123456789) Journal of Religion and Health relaxation response defined it as the use of prayer to trigger the release of chemicals in the brain that reduce stress. The frequency of using the relaxation response is important, with recommendations for individuals to practice it once or twice daily. Puchalska-Wasyl and Zarzycka (2019) posit that the type of prayer is important to a therapeutic outcome. Specifically, that research identifies prayer aimed at communicating with God and for the sake of other people (e.g., outward prayer) as having a positive effect on mental health. Contrastingly, prayer focused on the self (e.g., inward prayer) may lead to further ruminating on adverse life events that inhibit well-being. Could it be the case that Puchalska-Wasyl and Zarzycka’s concept of “outward prayer” and “inward prayer” parallels societal development? For instance, individuals in developed countries, which heavily value individualism and the maximization of self-interest (e.g., self-actualization), may find it necessary to replace altogether inward prayer that would align most closely with their culture with other means to achieve well-being? This all raises the need to investigate whether the benefits of prayer in strengthening well-being or reducing poor mental health follow a pattern of societal development. In addition to limiting excessive rumination, prayer may also enhance positive emotion that counteracts the effects of depression and poor mental health. Two separate studies on Muslims and Christians indicate positive mental health benefits can be gleaned from praying (see Saleem et al., 2021; Zarzycka & Krok, 2020). The Zarzycka and Krok study indicated that prayer of thanksgiving among Christian participants correlated positively with well-being, which is unsurprising given that the field of positive psychology has well-established the mental health benefits of practicing gratitude (Seligman et al., 2005). However, other research suggests that associations between prayer and happiness are relatively weak or that the social aspects of religion are more important than prayer frequency in associating with happiness among developed nations. In the USA, Denmark, and the Netherlands, only weak correlations were observed between prayer and happiness and that research concluded that the social aspects of church participation were more associated with happiness than prayer, meditation, or a belief in God (Snoep, 2007). Comparatively, in a developing nation such as Turkey, Yorulmaz (2016) and Okulicz-Kozaryn (2010) note that poorer, older, and less educated people may benefit more from religion’s social aspects, including praying as a group. Based on these assumptions, one might conclude that collectivist countries such as India and Turkey show a stronger relationship between prayer and happiness because collective prayer offers an opportunity for social cohesiveness. Investigating beyond the social aspects of prayer in a developing nation, Ijaz et al. (2017) conducted a study in Pakistan and observed that the frequency of Salah (prayer) in Islam is significantly associated with higher levels of mindfulness and mental health. The Ijaz and colleagues’ study suggests that the socialization hypothesis explaining the mental health benefits of prayer may be premature, and the relationship between prayer and happiness is much more nuanced and relates to prayer frequency, at least in developing nations. It is important to highlight that there is no consensus in the literature concerning prayer frequency serving as a buffer between negative life events such as unemployment and happiness (see Hastings & Roeser, 2020). Hastings and Roeser note that Maltby et al. (1999) found that prayer frequency contributed to 13 Journal of Religion and Health lower depressive symptoms and higher self-esteem. The findings in the Maltby et al. study are supported by the Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) research that indicated people with higher subjective well-being, a term used synonymously with happiness, are less likely to suffer depression if they become unemployed. However, Hastings and Roeser’s findings indicated that prayer frequency did not serve as a buffer between unemployment and happiness in the USA. Conversely, Ngamaba and Soni (2018) found that individual religiosity and country-level development contribute to religious groups’ happiness, although the study did not concentrate on cross-cultural prayer frequency. One reason that prayer may not have served as a buffer in the Hastings and Roeser study is that Americans may have supplanted other factors in place of prayer owing that serve as buffers when facing negative life events. The theory proposed in this study is that the association between prayer frequency and happiness follows a trajectory of human needs gratification. Put another way, prayer follows a pattern of development that interacts with intermediate human motivational concerns to a (...truncated)