Conventional Christian belief and unconventional paranormal belief among teenagers in Northern Ireland : a personality and individual differences approach

Abstract

A sample of 3,110 pupils (51% males and 49% females) attending Catholic (45%) and Protestant (55%) schools in Northern Ireland completed questions concerned with conventional Christian belief and unconventional paranormal belief, alongside the short-form Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrated that conventional Christian belief and unconventional paranormal belief occupy different locations in relation to Eysenck’s dimensional model of personality. While conventional Christian belief is associated with lower psychoticism scores and higher lie scale scores (greater social conformity), unconventional paranormal belief is associated with higher psychoticism scores and lower lie scale scores (lower social conformity) among pupils attending Catholic and Protestant schools. These findings support the conclusions from studies among young people in England and Wales that unconventional paranormal belief may be serving a different psychological function in comparison to conventional Christi...