Prayer and well-being in Muslim Canadians: exploring the mediating role of spirituality, mindfulness, optimism, and social support

ABSTRACT

Prayer has been found to have a salutary effect on mental health. However little empirical work has examined the effects of prayer on the well-being in individuals from the Muslim faith. This study examined mediators of the relationship between prayer and well-being in a sample of Canadian Muslims (n = 155). Results revealed that optimism and spiritual experiences mediated the relationship between prayer frequency and subjective well-being. Mindfulness correlated with prayer frequency and well-being but did not mediate the relationship between the two. Social support through religious activity correlated with prayer frequency but not with well-being. Results suggest that daily spiritual experiences and optimism are important ingredients that explain the positive effects of prayer and subjective well-being in a Muslim sample.

KEYWORDS:

• Muslim prayer
• well-being
• mediators
• optimism
• spirituality
• mindfulness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

MA was supported by Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master's, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.