Faculty of Health and Education, Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Mar 6;19(3):e0297403. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297403. eCollection 2024.
Within non-clinical samples the relationship between paranormal belief (PB) and well-being varies as a function of level of psychopathology. Accordingly, believers are best conceptualised as a heterogeneous set of sub-groups. The usefulness of previous findings has been restricted by conceptual methodological limitations. Specifically, overreliance on cross-sectional design, the assumption that believers constitute a homogeneous group, and consideration of direct effects. Acknowledging these limitations, the present study investigated whether profile membership derived from PB and psychopathology (schizotypy and manic-depressive experience) predicted well-being (i.e., stress, somatic complaints, life satisfaction and meaning in life) across time. Concurrently, analysis assessed the mediating effect of theoretically important variables (transliminality, happiness orientation, fearful and skeptical attitude). A sample of 1736 (Mage = 52, range = 18 to 88; 883 females, 845 males, eight non-binary) completed self-report measures indexing study constructs across time points. Latent profile analysis at baseline, identified three sub-groups varying in level of PB and psychopathology at baseline: Profile 1, moderate PB and high psychopathology; Profile 2, moderate PB and psychopathology; and Profile 3, moderate PB and low psychopathology. Path analysis demonstrated that Profile 1 (the highest psychopathology scoring profile) predicted higher negative and lower positive well-being over time in comparison with the other profiles. Moreover, Transliminality and Fearful Attitude positively mediated this relationship, whereas Skeptical Attitude produced negative mediation. These outcomes supported the presence of a sophisticated process underpinning the PB and well-being relationship. Overall, PB in the absence of psychopathology had no significant influence on well-being.
在非临床样本中，超自然信仰（PB）与幸福感之间的关系因心理病理水平的不同而变化。因此，最好将信仰者视为一组异质的亚组。以前的研究结果的有效性受到概念和方法上的限制。具体来说，过度依赖横断面设计、假设信仰者构成一个同质群体以及考虑直接影响等问题，限制了研究结果的有效性。考虑到这些局限性，本研究调查了 PB 和心理病理学（精神分裂症特质和躁郁症体验）特征成员身份是否能够跨时间预测幸福感（即压力、躯体症状、生活满意度和生活意义）。同时，分析评估了理论上重要变量（transliminality、幸福取向、恐惧和怀疑态度）的中介效应。一个由 1736 名参与者（Mage=52，范围 18 至 88；883 名女性，845 名男性，8 名非二元性别）组成的样本，在不同时间点完成了自我报告的研究构念测量。基线时的潜在特征分析确定了三个亚组，这些亚组在 PB 和基线时的心理病理学水平上存在差异：特征 1，中度 PB 和高心理病理学；特征 2，中度 PB 和心理病理学；特征 3，中度 PB 和低心理病理学。路径分析表明，与其他特征相比，特征 1（心理病理学评分最高的特征）预测了随着时间的推移，更高的负面和更低的积极幸福感。此外，transliminality 和恐惧态度积极中介了这种关系，而怀疑态度产生了消极的中介作用。这些结果支持了 PB 和幸福感之间存在一个复杂的过程。总的来说，在没有心理病理学的情况下，PB 对幸福感没有显著影响。
