ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2022
What drives beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories? The role of psychotic-like experiences and confinement-related factors.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in Poland. Predictors, psychological and social impact and adherence to public health guidelines over one year.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Effects of Beliefs, Conspiracy Theories, and Vaccine Hesitancy on the Vaccination Status of Patients with Severe Mental Illness in a Tertiary Psychiatric Care Hospital in Türkiye.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Examining the association between social media fatigue, cognitive ability, narcissism and misinformation sharing: cross-national evidence from eight countries.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The role of defense styles and psychopathological symptoms on adherence to conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Navigating the infodemic: strategies and policies for promoting health literacy and effective communication.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- "COVID-19 spreads round the planet, and so do paranoid thoughts". A qualitative investigation into personal experiences of psychosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs are not Barriers to HIV Status Neutral Care Among Black Cisgender Sexual Minority Men and Black Transgender Women at the Initial Peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chicago, USA.AIDS and behavior · 2022Article
- Social Media News Use and COVID-19 Misinformation Engagement: Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- Psychotic-like experiences in the lonely predict conspiratorial beliefs and are associated with the diet during COVID-19.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Cyberchondria, but not preventive behavior, mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and somatic burden: Evidence from Russia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- COVID-19-Related Psychological Trauma and Psychological Distress Among Community-Dwelling Psychiatric Patients: People Struck by Depression and Sleep Disorders Endure the Greatest Burden.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Approaching differential diagnosis and decisional capacity assessment in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A narrative review and clinical discussion.General hospital psychiatryReview
- COVID-19 associated psychosis.Industrial psychiatry journalReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleThe COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide threat to public health and the global economy. The climate of fear and uncertainty associated with the pandemic has fostered the emergence of a wide range of COVID-19 conspiracy theories that have the potential to shape public opinion and hinder the effective dissemination of valid information. Beliefs in conspiracy theories have been associated with maladaptive personality traits such as schizotypy and paranoia, as well as other non-psychotic psychological characteristics (e.g., social isolation, stress).
methodsAn online survey was conducted to examine the associations between beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories and psychotic-like experiences in a Portuguese community sample (N = 438), while also addressing the role of sociodemographic variables, psychological outcomes (e.g., stress, affective states), confinement-related factors (e.g., confinement conditions/behaviors), and pandemic-related factors (e.g., health concerns, financial issues).
resultsFindings suggest that psychotic-like experiences are associated with beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, particularly perceptual abnormalities and persecutory ideation. Moreover, increased health-related concerns and reduced education levels also seem to be liability factors for these conspiracy beliefs.
conclusionThese results add important insights into how the adherence to illogical and erroneous disease-related arguments can be related to psychotic-like experiences. COVID-19 conspiracy theories are yet another major challenge that governments and policymakers must contemplate when defining strategic directions to manage the current and future pandemics.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.