The structure and variety of prayer. An empirical study of Dutch youth

Abstract

Although in Europe as a whole and in the Netherlands in particular, church membership is in steady decline, most Dutch youth still pray. In this study, praying is interpreted as a ritual, composed of seven structural elements: need, action, effect, direction, time, place and method. On theoretical grounds, we distinguish four varieties of prayer. In our sample, petitionary prayer and religious prayer were found to coincide. In both, direction (mostly towards God) is central and so they are labeled as religious prayer. In meditative prayer the focus is on action (meditating or pondering). In psychological prayer need (concrete problems, especially the death of loved ones) is central. The importance of time and place was greater than expected. Every type of praying has a specific set of adjuncts. Psychological prayer is mostly said at night, lying in bed. Religious prayer takes place at fixed moments in church. Meditative prayer is performed anywhere and anytime. Young people who pray always combine these three types of prayer, with the core of praying being psychological in nature and functioning as a self-directing style of problem-solving. For most young people, praying is a way of coping cognitively and actively with problems of daily life and unresolvable negative events in order to gain secondary control and maintain balance in their life.