Structure of Prayer Scale

Abstract

The Structure of Prayer Scale is a psychometric instrument designed to measure the multifaceted nature of an individual’s private prayer experience. Developed by Luckow, Ladd, Spilka, and colleagues in 1997, this scale moves beyond mere frequency counts to explore the specific functions, motivations, and forms that prayer takes in a person’s life. It utilizes a 28-item questionnaire distributed across six distinct factors, reflecting dimensions such as ritualistic adherence, confession, petitionary requests, and meditative self-improvement. The scale provides researchers in the psychology of religion with a detailed tool for analyzing the behavioral and cognitive components of this spiritual practice.

Keywords

Prayer, Religiosity, Psychometrics, Psychological assessment, Confession, Petition, Ritual, Spiritual health, Religious behavior

Authors

Luckow, A., Ladd, K. L., Spilka, B., McIntosh, D. N., Parks, C., Laforett, D.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Structure of Prayer Scale is to provide a comprehensive and nuanced measure of personal prayer styles. Historically, measures of religious behavior often focused solely on the frequency or duration of prayer. This instrument was developed to address the lack of tools that capture the qualitative and functional diversity inherent in how individuals communicate with the divine.

The scale aims to differentiate between various motivations for praying, such as seeking personal improvement, adherence to religious ritual, requesting divine intervention (petition), and expressing gratitude or confession. By isolating these components, the scale allows for more precise correlation analyses between specific prayer dimensions and various psychological outcomes, such as well-being, coping mechanisms, or mental health status.

Construct

The scale is constructed around the premise that prayer is a multidimensional phenomenon, comprising distinct functional and structural components. It measures six core constructs identified through factor analytic techniques:

• Confession: Reflects the individual’s tendency to use prayer as a means of admitting sins, faults, or guilt to God, often linked to seeking moral improvement or leading a respectable life.
• Petition: Measures the extent to which prayer is utilized specifically to ask God for favors, solutions to problems, or personal gain. This focuses on instrumental prayer behaviors.
• Ritual: Captures the structured, repetitive, or rule-bound aspects of prayer, focusing on adherence to a fixed sequence or specific phrases, often associated with formal religious practice.
• Meditation-Improvement: Addresses the use of prayer for personal spiritual connection, inner peace, feeling secure, or achieving a sense of being a “better person” after praying.
• Habit: Measures the routine, daily incorporation of prayer into scheduled activities, such as before meals or sleep, reflecting the automatic integration of prayer into daily life.
• Compassionate Petition: Focuses on intercessory prayer, measuring the frequency and importance of praying for others, expressing thanks for God’s actions, and seeking divine help for loved ones.

Validity

While the original publication focuses heavily on the internal structure, establishing strong construct validity is implied through the clear differentiation of the six factors. The scale’s development was rooted in extensive theoretical work on the functions of prayer, suggesting strong face and content validity.

Subsequent research utilizing the scale often examines its predictive and concurrent validity by correlating subscale scores with established measures of general religiosity, spirituality, coping styles, and various mental health variables (e.g., depression or well-being), confirming that the subscales behave as theoretically expected within psychological models of religion.

Reliability

The reliability of the Structure of Prayer Scale is assessed primarily through internal consistency, measured using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients. The reliability estimates provided in the source material indicate a wide range across the subscales, suggesting variable internal consistency depending on the specific factor being measured and potentially the sample population.

The reported internal consistency ranges are:

• Confession: Alpha 0.58 – 0.89
• Petition: Alpha 0.44 – 0.81
• Ritual: Alpha 0.68 – 0.80
• Meditation-Improvement: Alpha 0.19 – 0.86
• Habit: Alpha 0.67 – 0.88
• Compassionate Petition: Alpha 0.81 – 0.95

It is notable that while some factors, such as Compassionate Petition, demonstrate excellent reliability (Alpha 0.95), others, particularly Petition and Meditation-Improvement, show very low reliability in some samples (down to 0.44 and 0.19, respectively). Researchers utilizing this scale should report the alpha coefficient for their specific sample, especially for factors with historically lower reliability estimates.

Factor Analysis

The scale relies on factor analysis to delineate the six distinct dimensions of prayer structure. This empirical process confirmed that prayer behaviors, though often treated monolithically, are composed of multiple, separate components. The resulting factor structure distributes the 28 items across the six identified subscales:

• Confession (5 items): Items 3, 4, 7, 14, 17
• Petition (3 items): Items 13, 15, 22
• Ritual (3 items): Items 1, 9, 20
• Meditation-Improvement (5 items): Items 2, 16, 23, 26, 27
• Habit (4 items): Items 10, 12, 25, 28
• Compassionate Petition (8 items): Items 5, 6, 8, 11, 18, 19, 21, 24

This structure suggests that while factors like Confession and Compassionate Petition are robustly measured with several items, the Petition and Ritual dimensions rely on fewer items, which may contribute to the variability observed in the reliability coefficients across different studies and populations.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological Scale

Format: 28 items rated on a 6-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Original publication)

Population Group: General population, primarily used with adult samples in psychological and religious studies.

Age Group: Typically utilized with adults (college students and older).

Population Details: Not specified in the source material, but typically employed with religiously affiliated or spiritually inclined populations.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of agreement with each statement regarding their personal prayer practices. The response options are: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = moderately disagree, 3 = slightly disagree, 4 = slightly agree, 5 = moderately agree, 6 = strongly agree.

Keywords

Religious psychology, Spiritual coping, Internal consistency, Prayer function, Intercessory Petition, Habitual behavior, Spiritual development

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source material

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source material

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The scale was published in a standard academic measure compilation (Measures of Religiosity, 1997). Researchers should consult the original publication or the copyright holder (Religious Education Press) regarding formal usage permissions. The instrument is frequently cited and used in academic dissertations and publications.

Fee: Not specified; generally available for academic research use.

Test Year: 1997

Reference’s

The original instrument and related research can be referenced through the following sources:

• Luckow, A., Ladd, K. L., Spilka, B., McIntosh, D. N., Parks, C., & Laforett, D. (1997). The structure of prayer. In P. C. Hill & R. W. Hood (Eds.), Measures of religiosity (pp. 70-72). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.

• de la Mora, Arlene Maria, (2004). “The God factor: the role of religious involvement on depression, health, and well-being”. Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. Paper 770. Available at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=psyd

• Vasiliauskas, Sarah L. (2010). The Effects of a Prayer Intervention on the Process of Forgiveness. George Fox University. Doctoral Dissertation.

The instrument itself can be viewed in the context of research utilizing it via this source: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=psyd

Items of the Structure of Prayer Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. When I pray alone, I have a ritual that I adhere to strictly.
2. Through deep pray I am able to know God better.
3. It is important to me to tell God about my sins or faults.
4. When I pray, I want to share my life with God.
5. I usually pray for God to make me a better person.
6. I pray to give thanks for all God has done for me.
7. When I feel guilty about something, it helps to tell God about it.
8. When God has answered my prayers, I usually give thanks.
9. My prayers are like rituals; they have a regular, orderly sequence.
10. I usually say a prayer before each meal.
11. I like to say prayers for people about whom I care very much.
12. I always pray before I go to sleep.
13. I must admit that I usually prayer to get something.
14. Confession is important to me because it helps me lead a more respectable life.
15. When I pray, I ask God for special favors.
16. Prayer helps me keep my life balanced and happy.
17. When I pray, I confess to God the things I should not have done.
18. Usually when I feel unable to help my loved ones, I ask God for help.
19. I ask God to help others when I am unable to.
20. When I pray, I have certain words of phrases that I repeat a number of times.
21. In my prayers I like to express my recognition for what God grants me.
22. Most of my prayers are for God to solve problems.
23. When I finish praying, I feel like a better person.
24. I pray for other people.
25. A morning prayer helps me cope with the world during the day.
26. Prayer is a way for me to connect with my inner spirit.
27. When I pray, I feel secure.
28. I pray daily.