Racial Disparities in the Expression of Paranoia

Study Summary

Paranoia is a pattern of thinking in which people feel suspicious or believe others may want to harm them. It can occur in many people, not only those with a mental health diagnosis, and it can affect daily life, relationships, and overall well-being. Research has consistently shown that Black Americans report higher levels of paranoia than White Americans, even when they do not have a clinical diagnosis. However, the reasons for this difference are not well understood. The goal of this study is to better understand why these differences exist. In the experimental part of the study, researchers will use a randomized design to test whether exposure to stressful experiences related to race leads to higher levels of paranoia among Black American participants. The study will also examine factors that may strengthen or weaken this effect, such as individual experiences and personal characteristics. By identifying how stressful experiences related to race influence paranoia, this research aims to improve how paranoia is measured and understood across different groups. These findings may help researchers and clinicians use more accurate and culturally appropriate tools to assess psychosis-related experiences in diverse populations.

Primary Outcome

Self-reported paranoia will be assessed immediately following the experimental task to capture acute, experimentally induced changes in paranoia. State paranoia will be measured using the Revised Green Paranoid Thought Scale (R-GPTS; Green et al., 2019), an 18-item validated Likert-type measure appropriate for clinical and nonclinical samples. Scores range from 0-72, with higher scores indicating greater state paranoia. The R-GPTS includes two subscales: (1) Ideas of Reference and (2) Ideas of P

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Guided Visual Imagery Task

Study Locations (1)