Faith in Action: The Moderating Role of Religious Identity in the Link Between Prayer and Prosocial Behavior

Research examining the interaction between prayer and religious identity and its effect on prosocial behavior is limited. Drawing data from 1602 single Roman Catholics ages 12–39, this study examined the relationship among public prayer, private prayer, religious identity, and prosocial behaviors, emphasizing the moderating role of religious identity. Analyses revealed a positive association between public and private religious practices, religious identity, and prosocial behavior. Public prayer significantly predicted prosocial behavior, while private prayer and religious identity did not exhibit direct effects. Crucially, religious identity moderated the relationship between public prayer and prosocial behavior, as the positive influence of public prayer on prosocial behaviors was significant only at average to high levels of religious identity. No moderating effect was found for the interaction between private prayer and religious identity. These findings underscore the importance of private and public prayer and strong religious identity in fostering prosocial tendencies among Filipino Catholic youth.