Exploring the Relationship between Schizotypal Personality Traits and Religious Attitude in an International Muslim Sample

Abstract

The study explored the nature of the relationship between schizotypal personality traits and attitude of Muslims towards their faith. A total of 114 adult Muslims from eighteen countries responded to the Sahin-Francis scale of Attitude towards Islam, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief, the short version of the Eysenck Lie scale, and a number of external indicators and religious practices. Attitude towards Islam, frequency of prayer and Mosque attendance had a relatively strong positive relationship with each other, while these religious characteristics exhibited a weak negative relationship with schizotypal traits. Age and social desirability did not seriously affect the religiosity-schizotypy relation, while a moderating effect of gender was identified. These findings suggest the presence of both underlying cross-faith elements and potential faith-specific behaviours in the relationship between religiosity and schizotypy.