@article {1312,
	title = {Close Ties, Intercessory Prayer, and Optimism Among American Adults: Locating God in the Social Support Network},
	journal = {Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion},
	volume = {52},
	year = {2013},
	chapter = {35},
	abstract = {Prayer is often an interpersonal phenomenon. It represents not only a form of social support shared between or among people, but also a means of embedding an unobservable actor (God) within a conventionally observable social network. This study considers whether the receipt of intercessory prayer from close network ties is associated with future-oriented well-being. Analyses use social network module data from the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), a nationally representative study of American adults containing a breadth of information not available in prior studies of networks, prayer, and well-being. Despite experiencing more instances of recent adversity (mental or physical health problem, financial trouble, and unemployment), prayed-for PALS respondents report the highest levels of optimism. Furthermore, the association between network prayer and optimism is robust to inclusion of individual-level indicators of religiosity. Finally, other forms of social support that an individual receives from his or her close ties do not explain the benefits of intercessory prayer.},
	keywords = {intercession, offline, optimism, Prayer, religion, social networks, social support, well-being},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12010/abstract},
	author = {Markus H. Schafer}
}
