| Paranoia is often associated with significant clinical symptoms such as psychosis and severe diagnoses such as schizophrenia. Paranoia in non-clinical levels can also be the cause of dysfunction, including depression and low self-esteem. Levels of paranoia are increasing across many populations world-wide. Currently, there is limited research into cultural influences in regard to the differences in paranoia. This limited research has found that there are variances in levels of paranoia in different populations, both among cultures and within cultures, such as those with low socioeconomic status. This research study looks at cultural differences that may be affecting paranoia in adolescent populations from Russia and Latin America. This research utilized the Pa1 and Pa3 subscales of Scale 6 in the MMPI-A to compare specific aspects of paranoid personality traits. The results of this inquiry indicated that Russian adolescents had higher levels of paranoia than Latin American adolescents on not only scale Pa1 and Pa3, but also across the entire scale measuring paranoia on the MMPI-A. |
