Influence of Paranormal beliefs on Psychopathology in a CrossCultural Society

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there would be significant main and interaction influence of paranormal beliefs and culture on incidence of psychopathology among a non-psychotic population. A survey research was carried out using a purposive non-probability sampling method drawing the sample from two ethnic groups; Yoruba and Igbo. They consisted of two hundred and four respondents with 78 adolescent and 126 adults with the age range of 14 and 65 years, 103 male and 101 female, 132 Christians, 66 Muslims and 6 traditional religious adherents, 107 Yoruba and 98 Igbo; all of which attained the minimum educational level of Junior Secondary School Certificate, who responded to Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk, 1988) and the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1978).Using Factorial Design, 2 X 2 ANOVA and Independent t-test to analyse the data, results indicated that paranormal beliefs significantly influenced anxiety and depression dimensions of psychopathology. It was also revealed that there was a significant main influence of culture on anxiety and depression. Also observed was a significant difference between the two ethnic groups, Yoruba and Igbo, on paranormal belief and incidence of psychopathology. It was therefore concluded that paranormal beliefs and culture have significant main influence on incidence of psychopathological symptoms.