Background: This study reports the development and revision of the Beliefs about Paranoia Scale (BaPS), a self-report measure to assess metacognitive beliefs about paranoia in non-patients. We aimed to confirm the factor structure of a revised 50-item version of the measure and test the specific hypotheses that positive beliefs about paranoia would predict frequency of paranoia, and that negative beliefs about paranoia would predict distress associated with paranoia.
Method: 185 non-patient participants completed questionnaires assessing beliefs about paranoia, thought control, self-consciousness, anxiety, depression and paranoia.
Results: The results showed that the original four-factor solution could not be replicated. Instead a three-factor solution comprising Negative Beliefs about Paranoia, Paranoia as a Survival Strategy, and Normalizing Beliefs was developed. The revised 18-item measure showed good internal consistency. Stepwise regression analysis showed that, BaPS-negative beliefs accounted for 34% of the variance with R2 of 0.339, with a multiple R of 0.585 in relation to frequency of paranoia. In relation to distress arising from paranoia, stepwise regression analysis showed that BaPS-negative beliefs accounted for 34% of the variance with R2 of 0.339, with a multiple R of 0.585. In both analyses, BaPS-Survival strategy showed a small but significant incremental increase in the variance accounted for in the overall model.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that a metacognitive approach to the conceptualization of paranoia as a strategy for managing interpersonal threat may have some utility. The clinical implications of the findings are also discussed.