Losing one's religion: relationships between autistic and schizotypal traits, religiosity, spirituality, and faith...

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between positive schizotypal and autistic traits and life-changing religious or spiritual experiences and faith changes, in those of relatively diverse religious affiliations.

A total of 2091 participants completed virtual questionnaires measuring autistic traits, positive schizotypy, and religious or spiritual experiences and faith changes. Participants who did or did not report a life-changing religious or spiritual experience were compared on autistic and positive schizotypal trait measures and their respective subscales. Those who reported a gain in faith, a loss in faith, neither of these, or both, were also compared on the trait measures and subscales.

Participants who reported a life-changing religious or spiritual experience or who experienced a gain in faith were lower in autistic social traits and higher in positive schizotypy. Participants who experienced a loss in faith also showed higher positive schizotypy. Those who reported no changes in faith showed greater autistic imaginative traits.

These results extend prior findings to a more diverse sample and faith changes, which have seldom been previously studied in relation to autistic and schizotypal traits. Potential explanations of results provide testable hypotheses for future study, focusing on mentalizing for autistic traits, and perceptual volatility and group member distrust for positive schizotypy.