Some Aspects of Belief in Prevailing Superstitions

Abstract

A questionnaire revised on the basis of findings from an earlier study and containing 12 prevalent common superstitious beliefs or practices was anonymously completed by 69 adults in New York City and 64 participants in the relatively more rural area of northwestern Pennsylvania. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups with respect to the influence of certain specific superstitious beliefs. The level of general superstitious belief appeared to be approximately equivalent for the two subsamples. However, a mean superstition score for 68 women was higher than that for 65 men, the difference being statistically significant ( p < .05), and tending to substantiate with broader based evidence a similar finding from the earlier study.