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. 2018 Sep 10;187(11):2355–2364. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy142

Table 3.

Prayer or Meditation in Adolescence and Health and Well-Being in Young Adulthood (n = 5,689–7,448a), Growing Up Today Study, 1999 to 2007, 2010, or 2013

Health and Well-Being Outcome Prayer or Meditation Comparison
Less Than Once per Week vs. Never 1–6 Times per Week vs. Never Once per Day or More vs. Never
RRb βc 95% CI P Value Threshold RRb βc 95% CI P Value Threshold RRb βc 95% CI P Value Threshold
Psychological well-being
 Life satisfaction 0.05 −0.04, 0.13 0.10 0.02, 0.17 <0.05 0.12 0.04, 0.20 <0.01
 Positive affect 0.07 −0.01, 0.15 0.11 0.04, 0.18 <0.01 0.16 0.08, 0.23 <0.0019d
 Self-esteem 0.01 −0.07, 0.09 0.10 0.02, 0.18 <0.05 0.08 0.00, 0.15 <0.05
 Emotional processing 0.03 −0.05, 0.12 0.10 0.02, 0.18 <0.05 0.13 0.06, 0.21 <0.0019d
 Emotional expression 0.08 0.00, 0.17 <0.05 0.13 0.06, 0.21 <0.0019d 0.15 0.07, 0.22 <0.0019d
Character strengths
 Frequency of volunteering 0.14 0.07, 0.22 <0.0019d 0.27 0.20, 0.34 <0.0019d 0.36 0.29, 0.43 <0.0019d
 Sense of mission 0.14 0.05, 0.22 <0.0019d 0.21 0.13, 0.28 <0.0019d 0.43 0.36, 0.51 <0.0019d
 Forgiveness of others 0.37 0.29, 0.46 <0.0019d 0.60 0.52, 0.68 <0.0019d 0.83 0.75, 0.91 <0.0019d
 Registered to vote 1.01 0.99, 1.04 1.01 0.99, 1.04 1.03 1.00, 1.05 <0.05
Physical health
 Number of physical health problems 0.10 0.02, 0.18 <0.05 0.02 −0.05, 0.10 0.08 0.01, 0.15 <0.05
 Overweight/obesity 1.02 0.92, 1.13 0.99 0.90, 1.10 1.00 0.91, 1.10
Mental health
 Depressive symptoms −0.07 −0.16, 0.01 −0.15 −0.22, −0.07 <0.0019d −0.09 −0.16, −0.01 <0.05
 Depression diagnosis 0.93 0.78, 1.10 0.95 0.80, 1.12 0.88 0.74, 1.03
 Anxiety symptoms 0.02 −0.06, 0.10 0.00 −0.08, 0.07 0.04 −0.03, 0.11
 Anxiety diagnosis 1.00 0.82, 1.23 1.00 0.82, 1.21 0.96 0.79, 1.16
 Probable PTSD 0.72 0.53, 0.97 <0.05 0.93 0.72, 1.21 0.94 0.73, 1.22
Health behaviors
 Cigarette smoking 0.98 0.86, 1.11 0.99 0.88, 1.12 0.89 0.78, 1.00 <0.05
 Frequent binge drinking 0.97 0.87, 1.09 1.00 0.90, 1.10 0.91 0.82, 1.01
 Marijuana use 0.99 0.93, 1.05 0.92 0.87, 0.97 <0.01 0.75 0.71, 0.80 <0.0019d
 Any other illicit drug use 0.91 0.74, 1.12 0.75 0.62, 0.92 <0.01 0.56 0.46, 0.69 <0.0019d
 Prescription drug misuse 0.90 0.79, 1.02 0.88 0.78, 0.99 <0.05 0.72 0.64, 0.82 <0.0019d
 Number of lifetime sexual partners −0.05 −0.12, 0.02 −0.13 −0.20, −0.07 <0.0019d −0.40 −0.46, −0.34 <0.0019d
 Early sexual initiation 1.05 0.89, 1.24 0.84 0.71, 1.00 0.70 0.59, 0.84 <0.0019d
 History of STIs 0.90 0.68, 1.18 0.83 0.64, 1.08 0.60 0.47, 0.78 <0.0019d
 Teen pregnancy 0.87 0.50, 1.52 0.64 0.36, 1.15 0.88 0.52, 1.48
 Abnormal Pap test results 0.82 0.70, 0.98 <0.05 0.95 0.81, 1.11 0.74 0.63, 0.88 <0.0019d

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; RR, risk ratio; STIs, sexually transmitted infections.

a The full analytic sample was restricted to those who had valid data on frequency of prayer or meditation. The actual sample size for each analysis varied depending on the number of missing values for each outcome under investigation. Missing data on the covariates were imputed from previous questionnaire years; if no such data were available, missing were imputed as the mean values (continuous variables) or values of the largest category (categorical variables) of the nonmissing data. All models were controlled for participants’ age, race, sex, geographic region, and prior health status or prior health behaviors (prior depressive symptoms, overweight/obesity, smoking, drinking, marijuana use, other drug use, prescription drug misuse, number of sexual partners, early sexual initiation, history of sexually transmitted infections, history of teen pregnancy), as well as their mother’s age, race, marital status, socioeconomic status (subjective socioeconomic status, household income, census tract college education rate, and census tract median income), depression, and smoking.

b The effect estimates for the outcomes of probable PTSD, any other illicit drug use, and teen pregnancy were odds ratios; these outcomes were rare (prevalence <10%), so the odds ratios would approximate the RRs. The effect estimates for other dichotomized outcomes were RRs.

c All continuous outcomes were standardized (mean = 0, standard deviation, 1), and β was the standardized effect size.

dP < 0.05 after Bonferroni correction (the P value cutoff for Bonferroni correction = 0.05/26 outcomes = 0.0019).