The Structure and Validity of the Multidimensional Prayer Inventory Among Israeli Jewish Pray-ers

摘要

Most prayer research has been based on predominantly North American Christian samples. In the present research, I examined the structure of the Multidimensional Prayer Inventory on the basis of responses from 1,172 Jewish Israelis. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the structure of the Multidimensional Prayer Inventory was valid for this sample and that a detailed 5-factor structure-Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, and Reception-was superior to alternative simpler factor structures examined. I integrated a new dimension of Habitual prayer into this measure, and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the 6-factor structure. I also examined group differences. Men scored higher on Confession and Habitual prayer, whereas women scored higher on Supplication and Thanksgiving prayer. Individuals self-identifying as religious scored higher on all 6 prayer scales than did those identifying as traditional. Individuals identifying as secular had the lowest scores on all prayer scales.