Taking it to God in Prayer

Abstract This study investigated prayer as a coping mechanism among the youth in southeast Nigeria. Using oral interviews and the psychological theory of religious coping, the study surveyed 50 tertiary institution students in Enugu State. Its findings indicated that these youths believe that prayer provides a kind of “mental” peace, comfort, solace, and hope in the midst of life’s challenges. In this way, prayer becomes a religious instrument of coping with the vicissitudes of life, as it offers the Nigerian Igbo youth escape from their everyday struggles.