The relationships among paranormal beliefs, locus of control and psychopathology in a Turkish college sample

The relationships among paranormal beliefs, locus of control and psychiatric symptomatology were investigated in a Turkish college sample of 350 participants (233 females and 117 males). The data were collected with the Turkish version of Tobacyk's revised Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS-R), Rotter's Internal-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 SCL-90-R (r = 0.14, P < 0.01), IELOC Scale and SCL-90-R (r = 0.31, P < 0.0001) were found. PBS-R subscales predicted locus of control better than psychopathology 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 on 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.