Dissociative experiences, trait anxiety and paranormal beliefs

The relationship between dissociative experiences, trait-anxiety and paranormal beliefs among students was investigated. Significant gender differences were found; females scored higher than males on the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) by Bernstein and Putnam (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 727–735, 1986) and some subscales of the revised Paranormal Belief Scale by Tobacyk (A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, unpublished manusript, 1991), such as psi belief, witchcraft, superstition and precognition. Further analyses revealed that high scores in spiritualism and superstition, and a low score in psi beliefs, predicted the level of derpersonalization/derealization; whereas high scores in precognition, psi belief and superstition predicted absorption/amnesia. Finally, superstition was a significant predictor of trait anxiety. The discussion focusses on the role of dissociative experiences and paranormal beliefs for personality functioning.