On the relationship between paranormal belief and schizotypy among adolescents

The relationship between schizotypy, paranormal belief and magical ideation was investigated in a study involving 571 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19. Structural equation modelling was used to test a model in which schizotypy has a different influence on two facets of paranormal belief. The findings give support to the hypothesis that schizotypy is a predictor of paranormal belief (i.e. belief in precognition, psi, witchcraft and spiritualism), whereas belief in traditional religious contents, superstitious thoughts (like the belief in the meaning of numbers like 13) or belief in the existence of extraordinary life forms (like Bigfoot) can be better predicted from scores in paranormal belief than from scores in the measure of schizotypy. Magical ideation was split up into two components, one indicative of schizotypy and one indicative of superstitious thinking. The present data also confirms previous studies showing stronger relations between paranormal belief and the cognitive-perceptual component of schizotypy than to the factors ‘interpersonal’ and ’disorganized’.