Abstract
The Paranormal Belief Scale was given to high school students in Grade 11 (95 boys, 98 girls). This scale provides a total Paranormal Belief Score, plus scores on each of seven paranormal subscales: Traditional Religious Belief, Psi Belief, Witchcraft, Spiritualism, Superstition, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Precognition. Paranormal scale/subscale scores of high school students were compared to those of a sample of college students. Generally, high school students were greater disbelievers in paranormal phenomena than college students. High school students showed significantly less belief than college students on the total Paranormal Scale and on the subscales, Psi Belief, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Witchcraft. As hypothesized, the number of science courses taken by high school students correlated significantly and inversely with total Paranormal Scale scores, Traditional Religious Belief scores, and Psi Belief scores. Also as hypothesized, Traditional Religious Belief scores were significantly and directly associated with grade point average (r = .21). Further as hypothesized, high school students in the most accelerated academic track showed significantly less belief on Superstition than students in other tracks.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.