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. 2022 Nov 23;17(11):e0276872. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276872

Table 1. Socio-demographic correlates of witchcraft beliefs: Regression estimates.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
Age -0.002 -0.006** -0.008*** -0.006* -0.006* -0.008*** -0.008*** -0.007**
(0.002) (0.002) (0.003) (0.003) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003) (0.003)
Gender: woman 0.048*** 0.046*** 0.016** 0.011 0.010 0.039*** 0.042*** 0.011
(0.008) (0.009) (0.007) (0.008) (0.008) (0.008) (0.008) (0.007)
Education: vs. “primary or less”
Some or completed secondary -0.037*** -0.034*** -0.033*** -0.034*** -0.032*** -0.043*** -0.030***
(0.008) (0.008) (0.009) (0.010) (0.008) (0.008) (0.009)
Above secondary -0.079*** -0.070*** -0.068*** -0.070*** -0.070*** -0.084*** -0.065***
(0.013) (0.014) (0.015) (0.016) (0.012) (0.012) (0.015)
Econ. situation: vs. “very bad”
Somewhat bad -0.034*** -0.033*** -0.033*** -0.033***
(0.009) (0.010) (0.010) (0.010)
Somewhat good -0.071*** -0.057*** -0.058*** -0.059***
(0.010) (0.010) (0.010) (0.011)
Very good -0.069*** -0.066*** -0.066*** -0.065***
(0.012) (0.014) (0.014) (0.014)
Household size: vs. 1–3
4–5 0.004 0.004 0.003
(0.006) (0.006) (0.006)
6 and above 0.018** 0.019** 0.018**
(0.009) (0.009) (0.008)
Urban resident 0.010 0.013
(0.009) (0.009)
Religion: vs. Christian
Muslim 0.014 0.013 -0.009
(0.024) (0.024) (0.029)
Unaffiliated -0.060*** -0.033** 0.019
(0.016) (0.015) (0.023)
Imp. of religion: vs. “not at all”
Not too important 0.108*** 0.058**
(0.011) (0.027)
Somewhat important 0.196*** 0.107***
(0.012) (0.029)
Very important 0.195*** 0.107***
(0.015) (0.029)
Belief in god 0.222***
(0.010)
Observations 135,693 133,244 101,264 75,746 75,746 129,037 101,556 73,849
Countries 95 94 74 58 58 94 73 58

Notes. The binary dependent variable is personal belief in witchcraft. Maximum likelihood estimates of marginal effects from probit regressions are reported in all columns. Standard errors clustered by country are shown in parentheses. ***, **, and * denote statistical significance at the 1, 5, and 10 percent level, respectively. Country fixed effects are included in all specifications. Age is measured in tens of years. Data are not weighted. The number of observations and countries for each specification reflects data availability constraints. Table B.1 in S1 Appendix presents (similar) estimates from the linear probability model.