Exploring potential bidirectional causality between psychotic experiences and religiosity in a UK longitudinal cohort study (ALSPAC)
Peer Community Journal November 25, 2025 Grace Obo, Jean Golding, Stanley Zammit et al.
People who experience psychotic experiences (PEs) between ages 12 and 24 are more likely to hold religious beliefs and identify as religious at age 28. Specifically, those with PEs were 7.8 percentage points less likely to answer 'no' to believing in God and 5.7 percentage points more likely to answer 'yes'. Religious belief at age 28 was also associated with a 5.7 percentage point increase in self-reported PEs at age 32. The findings suggest a potential bidirectional causal relationship between PEs and religiosity, particularly regarding religious beliefs, though effects for religious identity and service attendance were weaker or plausibly null.