The Study of Stress Coping and Basic Beliefs of Students Depending on their Superstition Level

The article addresses some aspects of coping behavior. It presents empiric findings concerning correlations between superstitiousness and paranormal beliefs and students’ coping strategies. It was found that students with a high superstition index have more manifested belief in paranormal phenomena (traditional religious belief, belief in witchcraft, spiritism, psi-abilities, and extraordinary forms of life). They also tend to use the coping strategy "positive reassessment", i.e. they try to find positive aspects in the difficult situations and are able to change their attitude towards it. It was also revealed that students with low superstition index have more pronounced beliefs concerning luck and control. They believe that they can control the events that occur, and at the same time they believe in good luck. It was supposed that students with higher manifestation of superstitiousness use it as a compensation mechanism for their less developed confidence in the ability to control their lives and weaker faith in their personal luck. Significant statistical relationships have been detected between superstitions and paranormal beliefs, on the one hand, and behavior in a stressful situation (coping strategies), on the other hand.