Schizotypy, delusional ideation and well-being in an American new religious movement population.
This study extends two previous UK studies that looked at schizotypy in new religious movements (Peters, Day, McKenna & Orbach, 1999a; Day & Peters, 1999) using a similar religious subgroup from a different culture. A sample of American Hare Krishna devotees was compared with a non-religious control group on measures of delusional ideation, schizotypy and general well-being. The Hare Krishna group scored significantly higher than the control group on delusional ideation, but not other aspects of schizotypy or general well-being. They also scored higher on delusional conviction, but not distress and preoccupation. The findings provide cross-cultural confirmation for the notion of a continuum between normality and delusional thinking, and the need to consider delusional beliefs as multi-dimensional-psychological health seems to be predicated not on what you believe, but how you believe it.
Smith
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L
Canterbury Christ Church University.
Riley
S
S
Peters
E R
ER
D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012925:Social Conformity; D012933:Social Identification; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States