Browsing by Subject "magical ideation"

Objective: Paranormal ideation has been found to correlate with paranoid ideation. Both phenomena are present in psychotic disorders and are a part of psychosis continuum, but they are both common also in common population. Previous research on the relationship between paranormal and paranoid ideation is based on cross-sectional studies with relatively small and selected samples, so this study was conducted to find out whether paranoid ideation could predict the development of paranormal ideation in adulthood over 15 years. Methods: The data used in this study was from The Young Finns Study. Paranormal ideation was assessed with The Spiritual Acceptance Scale (SAS), a subscale of The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Paranoid ideation was assessed with The Paranoid Ideation Scale (PIS), a subscale of the Symptom Checklist-90-Reviewed (SCL-90-R) questionnaire. The relationship between paranormal ideation and paranoid ideation was analyzed with growth curve modeling (N=1471, of which 56,8 % were women, the age range of the participants = 20–50 y.). Development of paranormal ideation (years 1997, 2001 and 2012) was set as the dependent variable and paranoid ideation from the same years was set as the independent variable. Childhood and adulthood socioeconomic factors were controlled for. Supplementary analyses were made using the same methods to examine the relationship between paranormal and paranoid ideation in the other direction (paranormal ideation predicting the trajectory of paranoid ideation). Results and conclusion: The main finding of this study was that paranoid ideation predicted the development of paranormal ideation over 15 years even after socioeconomic variables were controlled for. A similar relationship was also found in other direction: paranormal ideation predicted the development of paranormal ideation over 15 years. The relationship was found in both directions, from early adulthood to middle age, and in both genders. This study supported the relationship between paranormal and paranoid ideation found in earlier research. Based on previous research this relationship could be explained by cognitive biases or genetic or neurobiological factors. More research over the matter is needed to clarify the causal relationships between paranormal and paranoid ideation, and the factors explaining the relationship.