College students who reported having out-of-body experiences were compared with those who did not on measures of personality adjustment, death orientation, defensive style, narcissism, self-concept, and social desirability. Among 445 students, 65 reported such experiences. No meaningful differences in personality adjustment emerged between the two groups. The only distinction was that reporters endorsed stronger beliefs in precognition, psi, spiritualism, and witchcraft. The findings suggest that having an out-of-body experience is not linked to either better or worse psychological adjustment.
Narcissism has a small but significant direct link with belief in Psi and Precognition among college students. Among the 56 students who reported out-of-body experiences, narcissism showed moderate correlations with belief in Psi, Precognition, Witchcraft, and Superstition. For the 327 who did not report such experiences, only a small link between narcissism and Precognition appeared. These differing patterns suggest that personal experience with out-of-body phenomena may shape how narcissistic traits relate to paranormal beliefs, as interpreted through schemata theory.