1. Leave Room for Jesus: The Link between Prayers and Relationship Quality
My V. H. Nguyen, Natalia R. Taylor, David H. Haight, Maria F. Liendo Patiño, and Alan A. Payan
Robert J. Sternberg created a theory which described the correlation
between three aspects of love: passion (in which satisfaction is
included), intimacy (in which prayer is included), and
commitment.The stronger the areas the more mature the relationship.
Prayer is viewed differently within the field of psychology, both in the
secular and non-secular sides, yet the principle remains constant
(Laird, Synder, Rapoff, & Green, 2004). The study conducted is
based in the definition which takes on the view that prayer is a form
of communicating with God and also as a form of communion with
Him whether it be alone or with others (Grudem, 1994; Ladd, &
Spilka, 2002).
Satisfaction can be described as overall happiness between both
partners and can be used to determine willingness to stay together.
Considering that caring is one of the most crucial factors that a
couple needs to create a long-lasting relationship, prayer takes a
crucial role. A study findings emphasized the role of prayer in
relationship, through the enhancement of relationship satisfaction
(Lambert, Fichman, & Stanley, 2012).
Rusbult (1980) defined commitment as a choice committed
deliberately by people to remain in a relationship while attach to their
significant other emotionally. Prayer has been supported to provide
greater commitment. Researchers have noticed that only prayers
directed toward the partner significantly impacted commitment
(Fincham, & Beach, 2014). Other studies discovered that praying for
one another increased long term commitment, while there is a
deficiency in the correlation between commitment levels in a
relationship in praying for personal reasons (Fincham, & Beach,
2014).
Even though relationship satisfaction and commitment are two
important aspects by themselves, it is essential to look at the
overlapping between the two. In the context of praying, studies
showed that prayers positively correlated with relationship
satisfaction and commitment (Fincham et al., 2008; Fincham et al.,
2010). The present study explored prayers exclusively directed to a
person’s partner, and measured the frequency of the prayers.
,
Research Questions
Relationship satisfaction and Prayer Frequency
Relationship satisfaction findings. It was predicted that prayers and
relationship satisfaction are correlated, such that high frequency of
prayer leads to high level of satisfaction. Prayer frequency ranged from
10-19 on the PFPM (Fincham et al., 2010) and satisfaction levels ranged
from 17-31 on the RAS (Hendrick, 1988). The correlation between
frequency in prayer and relationship satisfaction was r(8)= .876, p< 0.01,
two-tailed. Results indicated a significant positive correlation,
demonstrating a strong relationship between the frequency in prayer and
the satisfaction level in the relationship. (see Table 1 and Figure 1)
Table 1
Participants’ Scores on Prayer Frequency, Commitment Level, and
Satisfaction Level
Figure 1. Correlation between Satisfaction Level and Prayer Frequency.
Commitment findings
It was hypothesized that prayers are associated with a person’s
commitment in a romantic relationship. The commitment levels ranged
from 18-53 on the CLI (Rusbult, et al., 1998), as presented in Table 1.
Prayer frequency and level of commitment were correlated at r(8)= .859,
p< 0.01, two-tailed. A significant correlation between the level of
commitment in the relationship and the frequency of prayer in the
relationship was found. Thus, the positive correlation indicated an
apparent link between the two variables such that high prayer frequency
was associated with high commitment (see Table 1 and Figure 2).
Figure 2. Correlation between Commitment Level and Prayer Frequency.
The research was comprised of 20 undergraduates from a private
Christian university taking a psychology course. The participants
received extra credit for completing the survey. The present study
only included data from 8 students (2 females) who were in a
relationship. The age range of the participants is from 19 years to
24 years, with a mean of 21 years. For additional demographic
information, see Figure 1.
Figure 2. Demographic data.
Prayer for partner
In order to measure the amount of time an individual prayed for their
partner, the Partner-Focused Prayer Measure (PFPM) was used
(Fincham, et al., 2010). This measure is a 4-item survey that asks the
participant to rate on a 5-point scale of how often the individual prays
for a partner, with 1 being never and 5 being very frequently. The scale
had high construct validity, which was used in multiple studies with the
validity ranging from 0.72 to 0.96, indicating good values (Fincham, &
Beach, 2014; Fincham et al., 2010). Items include questions such as “I
pray for the well-being of my partner”. The scores were added, and the
greater sum implies greater amount of time spent in prayer for a
partner. The total score varies from 4 to 20.
Relationship satisfaction leve
To access the level of relationship satisfaction of the participant, a
Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) was adopted from Hendrick
(1988). The questionnaire consists of 7 items, with sample questions
such as “How well does your partner meet your needs?” and “How
many problems are there in your relationship?” (reverse-scored). The
scale is a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 being the lowest satisfaction level
and 5 being the highest; questions 4 and 7 are reverse-scored. A high
summed score demonstrates a high level of relationship satisfaction,
with scores ranging from 7 to 35. The scale’s internal consistency
coefficient is .86, demonstrating high reliability (Büyüşahin, 2005).
Commitment level
To measure the commitment level from the participant, the present
study used the “Commitment Level Items” (CLI) (Rusbult, Martz, &
Agnew, 1998). The survey includes 7 items with a 9-point Likert scale
from 0 to 8 (0 = do not agree at all; 4 = agree somewhat; 8 = agree
completely). Sample items are “I want our relationship to last for a very
long time”, and “I would not feel very upset if our relationship were to
end in the near future (inverted scoring). The scores ranged from 0 to
56. The commitment level had an alphas ranged from .91 to .95,
illustrating high internal reliability (Rusbult et al., 1998), and a total high
score indicates a high level of commitment.
Measures
The present study predicted that there exists an association
between prayers, relationship satisfaction, and commitment.
These hypotheses were supported, as the participants reported
to have a high prayer frequency also revealed a high level of
satisfaction and commitment. These findings were consistent
with previous researches; Lambert et al. (2012) illustrated that
prayers positively enhance relationship satisfaction, while
Fincham and Beach (2014) inspected impact of prayers over
commitment and found significant correlation. Several other
studies also supported the link between prayers with the two
other variables (Fincham et al., 2008; Fincham et al., 2010). As
prayer was the main variable of concern, commitment level
increased as prayers frequency increased. In the same manner,
the satisfaction of the relationship varied in the same direction as
frequency of prayers. The present study mainly focused on
participants who were involved in a relationship, and the results
indicated that other than commitment and relationship
satisfaction, prayer is also a crucial element which could have an
astounding impact on the relationship.
Limitations
• Limited sample size. While there were a total number of 20
participants, due to the nature of the questionnaire, only the
answers of 8 students were taken into account.
• Low variety in age range due to participants being
undergraduates.
• Convenient sampling. Even though the questionnaire had high
construct validity, the survey items limited the number the
participant, and was only concerned with students in a
relationship, and ruled out the people who were single or
divorced. Thus, the study faced the problem with
generalizability to the population.
• Significant difference in the sexes of the undergraduates (6
males, 2 females). For this reason, gender might have been a
confounding variable, due to the characteristics of man and
women.
Implications and Future Research
• The findings suggest that prayers should be integrated a
relationship as mediator between the two parties.
• The research on this subject could be furthered by conducting
a longitudinal study. In other words, researcher could keep
tract on the influence of prayer influences on couples through
good and bad moments; researchers can examine whether
prayers can be regarded as a coping mechanism in a
relationship.
• The study could be carried out on a larger sample, with a
variance in demographic. The sample could include people
from early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood;
the data taken from these participants would offer a deeper
insight into people relationship.
• Future studies could inspect the perspective of people who
are not in a relationship, in order to gain a profound
understanding, not only in the context of romantic
relationships, but also the human relationships as a whole.
It is predicted that prayers and relationship satisfaction are
correlated, such that high frequency of prayer leads to high
level of satisfaction.
It is hypothesized that prayers are positively associated with
a person’s commitment in a romantic relationship (see Figure
1).
Figure 1. Model for Interaction of Variables.
SampleIntroduction Results Discussion
Data PFPM RAS CLI
Mean 13.38 23.38 32.75
Range 10 – 18 17 – 31 18 – 53
Note. PFPM = Prayer For Partner Measure, score range: 4 – 20; RAS =
Relationship Assessment Scale, score range: 7 – 35; CLI =
Commitment Level Items, score range: 0 – 56.
0
10
20
30
40
0 5 10 15 20
SatisfactionLevel
Prayer Frequency
0
15
30
45
60
0 5 10 15 20
CommitmentLevel
Prayer Frequency
3, 37%
2, 25%
2, 25%
1, 13%
Religious Belief
Christianity Judaism Islam None
2, 25%
2, 25%2, 25%
2, 25%
Ethnicity
American Indian or Alaska Native Asian or Asian American
Black or African American Hispanic or Latino
Prayer Frequency
Relationship
Satisfaction
Commitment
