Competing Correlates of Self-Reported Mental Health: Prayer Versus Meditation

Previous research indicates that religious involvement is positively associated with mental health, as is frequent personal prayer and participation in meditation programs. However, no prior study has examined the relative mental health benefits of prayer versus meditation. This study uses nationally representative data from the 2010 wave of the Baylor Religion Survey, along with insights from practice theory and the Durkheimian paradigm, to determine the relative correlations between personal prayer, group prayer, and meditation on self-reported psychological distress, net of religious controls and other confounding factors. It was hypothesized that each of these practices will be associated with lower levels of psychological distress, but that community prayer will exhibit the strongest correlation with positive mental health net of statistical controls. Data analyses provide no support for these hypotheses. However, several intriguing and statistically significant results are observed. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.