Frequency of Prayer

• Introduction
• Patterns
• Over Time
• Other Surveys

Frequency of Prayer (Demographic Patterns)

About how often do you pray?

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Frequency of Prayer by Gender (General Social Survey, 2004)

	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
DAILY +	21.8% 136	39.1% 280	31.0% 416
DAILY	23.2% 145	31.3% 224	27.5% 369
SEV.A WK.	17.1% 107	11.5% 82	14.1% 189
WEEKLY	6.7% 42	4.9% 35	5.7% 77
- WEEKLY	14.9% 93	7.1% 51	10.7% 144
NEVER	15.4% 96	5.7% 41	10.2% 137
DON'T KNOW	0.5% 3	0.1% 1	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.3% 2	0.3% 2	0.3% 4
Missing	656	816	1472
TOTAL	100% 624	100% 716	1340

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Frequency of Prayer by Race (General Social Survey, 2004)

	WHITE	BLACK	OTHER	TOTAL
DAILY +	27.6% 297	54.4% 87	30.8% 32	31.0% 416
DAILY	27.6% 297	23.1% 37	33.7% 35	27.5% 369
SEV.A WK.	14.5% 156	11.3% 18	14.4% 15	14.1% 189
WEEKLY	6.3% 68	3.8% 6	2.9% 3	5.7% 77
- WEEKLY	12.4% 133	3.1% 5	5.8% 6	10.7% 144
NEVER	11.0% 118	3.8% 6	12.5% 13	10.2% 137
DON'T KNOW	0.4% 4	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.3% 3	0.6% 1	0.0% 0	0.3% 4
Missing	1158	217	97	1472
TOTAL	100% 1076	100% 160	100% 104	1340

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Frequency of Prayer by Religion (General Social Survey, 2004)

	PROTESTANT	CATHOLIC	OTHER	NONE	Missing	TOTAL
DAILY +	38.8% 277	25.0% 80	35.0% 36	11.6% 23	0	31.1% 416
DAILY	27.5% 196	36.3% 116	22.3% 23	16.6% 33	1	27.5% 368
SEV.A WK.	14.1% 101	16.6% 53	16.5% 17	9.0% 18	0	14.1% 189
WEEKLY	5.5% 39	6.9% 22	6.8% 7	4.5% 9	0	5.8% 77
- WEEKLY	9.4% 67	9.7% 31	9.7% 10	18.1% 36	0	10.8% 144
NEVER	4.3% 31	5.3% 17	8.7% 9	40.2% 80	0	10.3% 137
DON'T KNOW	0.3% 2	0.3% 1	1.0% 1	0.0% 0	0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	3	0.1% 1
Missing	769	336	155	204	8	1472
TOTAL	100% 714	100% 320	100% 103	100% 199	12	1336

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Frequency of Prayer by Age (General Social Survey, 2004)

	18-30	31-44	45-64	65+	Missing	TOTAL
DAILY +	23.4% 68	30.2% 120	34.6% 151	35.8% 76	1	31.1% 415
DAILY	25.8% 75	28.0% 111	26.6% 116	31.6% 67	0	27.6% 369
SEV.A WK.	18.2% 53	15.1% 60	12.6% 55	9.4% 20	1	14.1% 188
WEEKLY	4.8% 14	5.8% 23	5.7% 25	7.1% 15	0	5.8% 77
- WEEKLY	15.8% 46	11.6% 46	8.9% 39	6.1% 13	0	10.8% 144
NEVER	12.0% 35	9.1% 36	10.6% 46	9.0% 19	1	10.2% 136
DON'T KNOW	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.7% 3	0.5% 1	0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.3% 1	0.2% 1	0.5% 1	1	0.2% 3
Missing	305	413	531	218	5	1472
TOTAL	100% 291	100% 397	100% 436	100% 212	9	1336

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Frequency of Prayer by Church attendance (General Social Survey, 2004)

	NEVER	< 1 A MNTH	< 1 A WEEK	WEEKLY +	Missing	TOTAL
DAILY +	10.4% 24	19.4% 88	27.8% 79	61.1% 225	0	31.1% 416
DAILY	17.8% 41	27.3% 124	36.3% 103	27.2% 100	1	27.5% 368
SEV.A WK.	8.3% 19	18.7% 85	18.7% 53	8.7% 32	0	14.1% 189
WEEKLY	7.0% 16	6.8% 31	7.4% 21	2.4% 9	0	5.8% 77
- WEEKLY	21.3% 49	17.2% 78	5.6% 16	0.3% 1	0	10.8% 144
NEVER	34.8% 80	9.9% 45	3.9% 11	0.3% 1	0	10.3% 137
DON'T KNOW	0.4% 1	0.4% 2	0.4% 1	0.0% 0	0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.0% 0	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	3	0.1% 1
Missing	241	511	331	382	7	1472
TOTAL	100% 230	100% 454	100% 284	100% 368	11	1336

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Frequency of Prayer by Political ideology (General Social Survey, 2004)

	LIBERAL	MODERATE	CONSERV	Missing	TOTAL
DAILY +	26.0% 83	28.8% 143	36.5% 180	10	31.0% 406
DAILY	23.2% 74	30.0% 149	28.0% 138	8	27.6% 361
SEV.A WK.	11.9% 38	15.7% 78	14.0% 69	4	14.1% 185
WEEKLY	6.3% 20	6.0% 30	5.5% 27	0	5.9% 77
- WEEKLY	13.5% 43	9.9% 49	9.3% 46	6	10.5% 138
NEVER	18.2% 58	9.3% 46	6.3% 31	2	10.3% 135
DON'T KNOW	0.3% 1	0.2% 1	0.4% 2	0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.6% 2	0.2% 1	0.0% 0	1	0.2% 3
Missing	0	0	0	1472	1472
TOTAL	100% 319	100% 497	100% 493	1503	1309

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Frequency of Prayer by Education (General Social Survey, 2004)

	LESS HS	HS DEGREE	JR COLL	BA DEGREE	GRAD DEGRE	Missing	TOTAL
DAILY +	35.3% 61	30.7% 214	38.4% 43	26.8% 59	28.7% 39	0	31.1% 416
DAILY	25.4% 44	29.2% 204	20.5% 23	29.1% 64	25.0% 34	0	27.6% 369
SEV.A WK.	15.0% 26	14.0% 98	15.2% 17	12.7% 28	14.0% 19	1	14.0% 188
WEEKLY	4.0% 7	6.2% 43	6.3% 7	5.0% 11	6.6% 9	0	5.8% 77
- WEEKLY	11.6% 20	10.9% 76	9.8% 11	11.8% 26	8.1% 11	0	10.8% 144
NEVER	7.5% 13	8.5% 59	8.9% 10	14.1% 31	17.6% 24	0	10.2% 137
DON'T KNOW	0.6% 1	0.4% 3	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0	0.3% 4
NO ANSWER	0.6% 1	0.1% 1	0.9% 1	0.5% 1	0.0% 0	0	0.3% 4
Missing	191	737	112	287	145	0	1472
TOTAL	100% 173	100% 698	100% 112	100% 220	100% 136	1	1339

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Notes

General Social Survey, 2004: General Social Survey: Since 1972, the National Opinion Research Center has conducted a nationwide survey of a random sample of U.S. citizens on a near-yearly basis—the General Social Survey (GSS). In addition to gathering detailed demographic information on respondents, the GSS gathers opinions on a wide variety of topics, such as the role of government in public life, controversial issues such as abortion, confidence in public institutions and a host of others. Of course, respondents are unlikely to spend five hours completing a survey so in order to gather data on a broad range of issues the GSS has adopted the practice of rotating groups of questions into and out of the survey in different years.