Why You Pray (or Don't): It Started in Childhood

Have you ever wondered why some people make prayer or meditation a daily habit, while for others it’s not part of their life at all? A massive new study of over 200,000 people in 22 countries suggests the answer often lies in our childhood. Researchers wanted to see which early life experiences shape our spiritual practices as adults.

“The most powerful predictor of adult prayer is not hardship, but simply attending services as a child.”

They asked people about their upbringing—their relationships with their parents, family finances, childhood health, and whether they attended religious services. Then, they looked at how often these same people pray or meditate today. The results were striking. By far, the biggest predictor of adult prayer or meditation was attending religious services as a child.

Those who went weekly were almost twice as likely to pray or meditate daily in adulthood compared to those who never went. It seems that early habit and exposure create a powerful, lifelong pattern. Other factors that consistently mattered across the globe were being a woman and being older, both of which were linked to more frequent prayer. What’s just as interesting is what *didn’t* have a clear, universal impact. Experiences like parental divorce, childhood poverty, or even abuse had very different effects depending on the country.

In some cultures, hardship seemed to draw people toward prayer as a coping mechanism. In others, it appeared to push them away. This shows that while some aspects of our spiritual development are universal, our specific culture plays a huge role in how we process life's challenges and what that means for our faith or spiritual practice.