Editing Paranoia (section)

===Social and environmental===
Social circumstances appear to be highly influential on paranoid beliefs. According to a mental health survey distributed to residents of [[Ciudad Juárez|Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua]] (in Mexico) and [[El Paso, Texas]] (in the United States), paranoid beliefs seem to be associated with feelings of powerlessness and [[Victim mentality|victimization]], enhanced by social situations. Paranoid symptoms were associated with an attitude of mistrust and an external locus of control. Citing research showing that women and those with lower socioeconomic status are more prone to locating locus of control externally, the researchers suggested that women may be especially affected by the effects of socioeconomic status on paranoia.<ref>Mirowski and Ross (1983)</ref>

Surveys have revealed that paranoia can develop from difficult parental relationships and untrustworthy environments, for instance those that were highly disciplinary, strict, and unstable, could contribute to paranoia. Some sources have also noted that indulging and pampering the child could contribute to greater paranoia, via disrupting the child's understanding of their relationship with the world.<ref name=D&F >Deutsch and Fishman (1963), p. 1408</ref> Experiences found to enhance or create paranoia included frequent disappointment, stress, and a sense of hopelessness.<ref>Deutsch and Fishman (1963), p. 1412</ref>

Discrimination has also been reported as a potential predictor of paranoid delusions. Such reports that paranoia seemed to appear more in older patients who had experienced greater discrimination throughout their lives. Immigrants are more subject to some forms of psychosis than the general population, which may be related to more frequent experiences of discrimination and humiliation.<ref>Bentall and Taylor (2006), p. 280</ref>