Objectives.Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are associated with many dimensions of human life and could contribute to one’s self-esteem; how-ever, there is no certainty that this is also appli-cable to non-religious countries. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the association of different aspects of R/S with self-esteem in a secular environment.Participants and setting.An online sample of 464 Czech respondents aged 15 and over (mean age 30.7; SD=12.63; 27.2% men) participated in the survey. Self-esteem, religiosity, religious attendance, frequency of prayer, negative re-ligious coping, image of God and spirituality were measured. Results. Regular prayer, spirituality (per stan-dard deviation, SD), a low level of religious struggles (per SD) and a positive God image (per SD) were associated with higher self-esteem, with odds ratios ranging from 1.28 to 2.16 (p˂0.05 to p˂0.001). In contrast, compared to non-religious respondents, religious respon-dents had an approximately 60% lower chance of having a high level of self-esteem (p˂0.05). However, a combination of R and S showed that while religious/spiritual respondents did not dif-fer significantly from non-religious respondents, religious/non-spiritual respondents had approxi-mately 79% lower chance of having good self-esteem (p˂0.001).Study limitations.The main limitation of this study is that it did not reach a representative sample, which limits the generalizability of the findings to the whole population. This is also the first study using this kind of research approach, which, however, limits the interpretation of re-sults. Moreover, it is a cross-sectional study, so any conclusions on causality cannot be made, and the questionnary used only self-report mea-sures, which could be influenced by a social de-sirability bias. and Cíle. Religiozita a spiritualita (R/S) jsou spojeny s mnoha oblastmi lidského života a mohou mít pozitivní vliv i na lidskou sebeúctu. Přesto není jisté, zda je větší intenzita náboženského a spirituálního prožívání spojena s vyšší sebe-úctou i v ateistických zemích. Cílem studie bylo zkoumat vztahy různých aspektů R/S v sekulárním prostředí. Soubor. Výzkumný vzorek tvořilo 464 českých respondentů starších 15 let (průměrný věk 30,7 let; SD = 12,63; 27,2 % muži). Prostřednictvím online dotazníku byla měřena sebeúcta, religiozita, náboženská účast, četnost modlitby, míra náboženských zápasů, obraz Boha a spiritualita. Výsledky. Pravidelná modlitba, spiritualita (SD), nižší míra náboženských zápasů (SD) a pozitiv-ní obraz Boha (SD) byly spojeny s vyšší sebe-úctou, s odds ratio v rozmezí od 1,28 do 2,16 (p ˂ 0,05 až p ˂ 0,001). Oproti těm nereligiózním měli religiózní respondenti přibližně o 60 % nižší šanci mít vyšší úroveň sebeúcty (p ˂ 0,05). Kombinace R a S ukázala, že zatímco religiózní, ale nespirituální respondenti se od těch nereligiózních v míře sebeúcty výrazně nelišili, religiózní, ale nespirituální respondenti měli přibližně o 79 % nižší pravděpodobnost dobré sebeúcty (p ˂ 0,001). Omezení studie. Tato studie nepracuje s reprezentativním vzorkem populace a výsledky se tudíž nedají zobecnit na celkovou populaci. Jedná se o první studii užívající tento přístup, což ztěžuje interpretaci výsledků. Navíc se jedná o průřezovou studii, nelze tedy dělat závěry ohledně kauzality a studie využívala pouze sebehodnotící dotazníky, které mohou být zkresleny tendencí odpovídat sociálně žádoucím způsobem.
Practice of prayer has negative or positive psychological effects depending on the extent of frankness put in the prayer. Prayer, for which is characteristic instrumentation of God for own needs, brings in the end negative effects. Prayer might be filled by fetishistic and autistic intentions, might become an escape from real problems.
The prayer related to God who is value himself leads to positive effect in its consequences: openness, trust and expression of will to change play important roles here. This process results in psycho-hygienic relevant development of regularity and order in everyday practice, clarification of values and differentiation between important and secondary things. Encounter with oneself, which is part of the prayer, challenges the worshipper to become willing to admit own mistakes, accept them and become able to bear the truth about own self. Similar process occurs in psychotherapy, where the person develops his positive aspects, recovers his abilities, lives a more authentic and fulfilling life. One doesn’t become a faultless man all of a sudden, but he „clarifies“ his personality, behavior as well as relationships. He becomes more and more integrated and authentic.