I. Dag, The relationships among paranormal beliefs, locus of control and psychopathology in a Turkish college sample, PERS INDIV, 26(4), 1999, pp. 723-737
The relationships among paranormal beliefs, locus of control and psychiatri
c symptomatology were investigated in a Turkish college sample of 350 parti
cipants (233 females and 117 males). The data were collected with the Turki
sh version of Tobacyk's revised Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS-R), Rotter's I
nternal-External Locus of Control Scale (IELOC), and Symptom Check List-90-
Revised (SCL-90-R). Small but significant positive correlations between the
global scores of PBS-R and IELOC Scale (r = 0.31, P < 0.0001), PBS-R and S
CL-90-R (r = 0.14, P < 0.01), IELOC Scale and SCL-90-R (r = 0.31, P < 0.000
1) were found. PBS-R subscales predicted locus of control better than psych
opathology in general. Correlations among the subscales of PBS-R and IELOC
Scale were also reported. Females were significantly higher in Superstition
, and males in Extraordinary Life Forms subscale. The discussion focussed o
n the role of paranormal beliefs as a personality system that brings a kind
of control feeling, depending on insufficient internal control perceptions
, with a cost of psychopathology. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.