title: The relationship between prayer, health behaviors, and protective resources in school-age children.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the relationship between children's use of prayer as a coping strategy and other protective resources, and (2) whether children who prayed frequently and those who never prayed exhibited different levels of perceived stress and health behaviors. Prayer was found to be positively related to the protective resources of social connectedness and sense of humor. In addition, children who prayed frequently reported significantly higher levels of positive health behaviors than children who never prayed. These two groups of children did not significantly differ in their levels of perceived stress.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78701-1499, USA. ellerew@mail.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rew
authors.forename: Y Joel
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: R Weylin
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Sternglanz
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012067:Religion; D012944:Social Support; D013781:Texas; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic