A cross-cultural exploration of magical thinking in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Psychometric insights from India and Australia using the Illusory Beliefs Inventory

Background Studies suggest a unique relationship between magical thinking and Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) symptoms while literature lags behind in the use of a uniform measure specific to magical thinking in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The Illusory Beliefs Inventory (IBI) is the only measure that comprehensively encompasses all the elements of magical thinking specific to OCD. Yet, little is known about the influence of culture on this construct and how IBI performs across cultures. This study aims to explore the construct of magical thinking measured by the IBI with a cross-cultural perspective. Comparisons were drawn between India (holistic-thinking) versus Australia (analytic-thinking) to determine the psychometric properties of the measure across the two samples. It is hypothesised that there will be cross-cultural differences in the understanding of the construct of magical thinking measured by the IBI. Methods Non-clinical Indian ( n  = 627) and Australian ( n  = 535) adults were recruited through snowballing and convenience sampling who completed the IBI for magical thinking, Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised for OC symptoms and Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire for the established cognitive beliefs. Analyses were conducted using SPSS and Mplus to evaluate the model fit and the factor structure across cultures. Results Measurement invariance was explored for IBI across the samples, but configural invariance was not supported, suggesting cross-cultural differences in the construct measured by the IBI. Factor analyses did not support the hierarchical three-factor structure of the original IBI. However, a consistent two-factor structure ( Factor 1: Magical & thought-fusion beliefs; Factor 2: Spirituality) emerged across the samples while the solution differed with regards to the number of items in each sample. This study establishes the IBI as a reliable measure of magical thinking with good internal consistency and construct validity across the Indian and the Australian samples. These results may have potential implications in the assessment of this construct with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.