Inward, Outward, Upward Prayer: Scale Reliability and Validation |
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Authors: | Kevin L. Ladd,& Bernard Spilka |
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Affiliation: | Kevin L. Ladd is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Ave., South Bend, IN 46634-7111. E-mail:;;Bernard Spilka is Professor Emeritus at the University of Denver, 2100 S. Race St., Denver, CO 80210. E-mail: |
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Abstract: | This study provides support for a model that conceptualizes prayers as the means to establish cognitive connections in three directions: inward (self-connection); outward (human-human connection); and upward (human-divine connections). A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates a single general prayer factor divisible into three subfactors that are in turn comprised of eight discrete scales. Measures of general religiosity, the need for structure, religious styles of coping, well-being, life-satisfaction, and belief in the paranormal provide evidence of convergent and divergent validity for the theory of prayer as a mechanism for inward, outward, and upward connections. |
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