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Relationships between magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness and other forms of anxiety in a sample of non-clinical children

Relationships between magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness and other forms of anxiety in a sample of non-clinical children

Simonds, Laura M., Demetre, James D. and Read, Cristina (2009) Relationships between magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness and other forms of anxiety in a sample of non-clinical children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27 (2). pp. 457-471. ISSN 0261-510X (Print), 2044-835X (Online) (doi:10.1348/026151008X345582)

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Abstract

Despite the obvious phenomenological similarities between magical thinking and obsessive-compulsiveness, the relationship between them has been the subject of few empirical investigations in samples of children. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between a general epistemic stance towards magical causation and tendencies towards obsessive-compulsiveness in a non-clinical sample of schoolchildren. One-hundred and two children, aged between 5 and 10 years (48 boys and 54 girls), completed questionnaire measures designed to assess magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness, and other forms of anxiety. School teachers completed a measure of strengths and difficulties for each child. General belief in magical causation was correlated with all types of anxiety, not just obsessive-compulsiveness, with significant correlations shown for boys in the sample, but not girls. General belief in magical causation contributed little to the prediction of obsessive-compulsiveness beyond general anxiety. In this study, a general epistemic stance towards magical causation did not differentiate obsessive-compulsiveness from other anxiety dimensions. The findings are considered in the context of developmental theories of magical and scientific causal reasoning.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: [1] Published on behalf of The British Psychological Society.
Uncontrolled Keywords: magical thinking, obsessive compulsive, children, magical causation
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2016 09:08
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/3302

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