Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 75 Amir Azarvan Table 2 Reported UFO Sightings and the Prevalence of Wicca in American States UFO Sighting Frequency Average Wicca Rate / 100,000 Population % of States Scoring Above the National Average Wicca Rate The 10 States with the Highest Number of Per Capita UFO Sightings* 21 100 The 10 States with the Lowest Number of Per Capita UFO Sightings** 11 0 * These ten states are Vermont (9.29), Washington (9.09), Montana (8.76), Alaska (8.63), New Hampshire (8.43), Maine (8.40), Oregon (8.25), New Mexico (7.75), Wyoming (7.02), and Idaho (6.85). ** These ten states are Tennessee (3.21), New Jersey (3.06), Virginia (3.04), New York (2.93), Maryland (2.90), Alabama (2.69), Mississippi (2.62), Georgia (2.44), Louisiana (2.41), and Texas (2.00). OLS Regression Analysis Table 3 presents two sets of OLS regression results that correspond to my two measures of a state’s religious climate. To begin with my control variables, although education was shown to be an insignificant predictor of UFO sightings, coefficients for GDP per capita and region (particularly the Far West) were both statistically significant. A $10,000 increase in GDP per capita resulted in a 33–47% drop in sightings, depending on the particular measure of religious climate. Although sightings were not significantly higher in New England states in either model, they were 135–140% higher in Far Western states (depending, again, on the model). As for the independent variables, the positive association between both measures of religious climate and UFO sightings remained statistically significant (p <.01) even after GDP per capita, education and region were adjusted for. As results from Models 1 and 2 respectively show, each additional person per 100,000 practicing Wicca produced a 35% increase in reported UFO sightings, while a one-unit increase in the atheist population share yielded a much higher increase of 70%. In short, OLS regression analysis confirmed both of my hypotheses. Table 3 OLS Regression on the Determinants of Reported UFO Sightings Reported UFO Sightings MODEL 1 Measure of Religious Climate: Wicca Rate /100,000 MODEL 2 Measure of Religious Climate: Atheist % Share of Population Religious Climate .352*** (.039) .700*** (.194) GDP Per Capita -.000*** (.000) -.000** (.000) Education .056 (.038) .049 (.057) Region (Far West) 1.345** (.508) 1.403* (.761) Adjusted R-Squared .71 .37 N 50 51 * p <.1 ** p <.05 *** p <.01 Numbers in parentheses are standard errors. While these findings mark an improvement in our knowledge of the determinants of UFO sightings, further research is warranted by the fact that a sizable percentage of the variance in the dependent variable remains to be explained. This is indicated by the adjusted R-squared, which ranges from 37–71% (depending on the model).
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