Effectiveness of prayer in coping: An African American female perspective

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study:

The purpose of this study was to investigate prayer and coping in the daily lives of African American women. This research was based on the evolving theories of stress and coping presented by Lazarus (1966), Lazarus and Cohen (1977), Lazarus and Folkman (1984), Pargament (1997), and Folkman and Moskowiz (2004). Participants in the study were 15 African American females from a moderately sized midwestern city, which were identified as individuals who utilized prayer in their daily life to reduce stress. Subject selection was accomplished by a combination of criterion and snowball sampling. Each participant was interviewed and observed in individual and group formats according to ethnographic, qualitative procedures. The data was also analyzed in accordance with ethnographic methods, as viewed through the lens of the feminist framework of Black Women's Critical Social Theory by Patricia Hill Collins (2002).

Findings and Conclusions:

Qualitative methods have been used in this study to investigate the phenomena of prayer in coping with daily stress. This study has revealed valuable information that is commonly utilized by African American women in their efforts to cope. Themematic narratives, which incorporated several commonalities, were developed from the generated qualitative data. Four themes were uncovered that accounted for the participants' success in daily coping with stress through prayer. These themes were: what is prayer, why pray, when to pray, and how to pray. Using the five religious coping assumptions of meaning, control, comfort /spirituality, intimacy/spirituality, and life transformation as presented by Pargament, Koenig, and Perez (1998), each theme was examined to reveal and account for the coping resiliency of the participants (p. 521). Within each of the four themes, specific psychological concepts and processes were found that have intensified these women's coping abilities. Revealing and examining these psychological concepts have brought enlightenment regarding the prayer experiences of these African American women and explains the methods in which prayer enables them to effectively cope with stressors within their daily lives. This study has helped to enable psychology explain and enhance the understanding of prayer as an effective coping mechanism for African American women.