Browsing by Author "Sairanen, Veronika"

Objective: Paranormal thinking refers to beliefs in supernatural phenomena that have not been scientifically proven to exist (e.g., telepathy, sixth sense). Despite increased scientific knowledge, paranormal thinking is still common in the general population. According to one explanatory model, paranormal thinking can be used as a coping strategy for dealing with stress in bourdensome and challenging conditions. While paranormal thinking is known to associate with many mental disorders, evidence is still scarce on the association between depression and paranormal thinking. A few previous studies have found a positive correlation between depression and paranormal thinking, but longitudinal studies are totally lacking. This study aimed to investigate (1) whether depressive symptoms are cross-sectionally associated with paranormal thinking, (2) whether mild, moderate, and severe depression are differently associated with paranormal thinking, and (3) whether depressive symptoms predict the development of paranormal thinking over a 4- or 15-year follow-up. Methods: The participants (N=1064–1348, born between 1962–1977) came from the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Paranormal thinking was assessed with The Spiritual Acceptance vs. Rational Materialism questionnaire in 1997, 2001 and 2012, depressive symptoms with The Beck Depression Inventory in 2012, and mild depressive symptoms with The Modified Beck Depression Inventory in 1997, 2001 and 2012. The data was analyzed with regression analyses that were adjusted for participants’ age, sex, and socioeconomic factors in adulthood and their parents’ socioeconomic factors in childhood. Results and conclusions: High depressive symptoms were cross-sectionally associated with higher paranormal thinking. Additionally, participants with mild depression (but not participants with moderate or severe depression) had on average higher paranormal thinking when compared to those without depression. Depressive symptoms did not predict the development of paranormal thinking over the 4- or 15-year follow up. Overall, the findings in this population-based longitudinal sample suggest that depressive symptoms co-occur with but do not predict paranormal thinking. Future studies could examine the psychological mechanisms behind the co-occurrence between depressive symptoms and paranormal thinking; in particular, whether paranormal thinking can act as a coping mechanism when exposed to depression-related strain.