IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i21p7818-d434685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Determinants of Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Internet Users

Author

Listed:
  • Mariusz Duplaga

    (Department of Health Promotion and e-Health, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Grzegorzecka Str. 20, 31-531 Krakow, Poland)

Abstract

An overwhelming flood of misinformation is accompanying the pandemic of COVID-19. Fake news and conspiracy theories are so prevalent that the World Health Organization started as early as February 2020 to use the term “infodemic”. This paper is focused on the assessment of the prevalence of beliefs in conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 in Polish society. The association of support for conspiracy theories with sociodemographic variables, health literacy (HL) and eHealth literacy (eHL) was studied. The analysis reported here was based on the data from an online survey of a representative sample ( n = 1002) of the adult population of Polish Internet users. The multivariate linear regression for the COVID-19-related conspiracy belief score (CCBS) and logistic regression models for the support of individual conspiracy theories was developed. The percentage of supporters of particular conspiracy theories in the study sample ranged from 43% to 56%. The CCBS was significantly associated with age, education level, vocational status and both HL and eHL. However, it was lower for persons with higher HL (regression coefficient (B) = −0.04, p < 0.001) but higher for those with higher eHL (B = 0.04, p = 0.038). The most influential predictors of CCBS were age (standardised regression coefficient (β) = −0.21) and education level (β from 0.08 to 0.16 for respondents with lower education levels and those with master’s degrees). In conclusion, younger persons rather than older, those with a lower rather than with a higher level of education, employees rather than students and persons with lower rather than higher HL were more likely to believe the conspiracy theories. Surprisingly, contrary to expectations, higher eHL was significantly associated with greater belief in such theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "The Determinants of Conspiracy Beliefs Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Nationally Representative Sample of Internet Users," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:7818-:d:434685
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/7818/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/7818/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Darrin Baines & Robert J R Elliott, 2020. "Defining misinformation, disinformation and malinformation: An urgent need for clarity during the COVID-19 infodemic," Discussion Papers 20-06, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    2. Emily K. Vraga & Melissa Tully & Leticia Bode, 2020. "Empowering Users to Respond to Misinformation about Covid-19," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 475-479.
    3. Tetine Sentell & Sandra Vamos & Orkan Okan, 2020. "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Health Literacy Research Around the World: More Important Than Ever in a Time of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Mariusz Duplaga & Karolina Sobecka & Sylwia Wójcik, 2019. "The Reliability and Validity of the Telephone-Based and Online Polish eHealth Literacy Scale Based on Two Nationally Representative Samples," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-12, September.
    5. Hiep T. Nguyen & Binh N. Do & Khue M. Pham & Giang B. Kim & Hoa T.B. Dam & Trung T. Nguyen & Thao T.P. Nguyen & Yen H. Nguyen & Kristine Sørensen & Andrew Pleasant & Tuyen Van Duong, 2020. "Fear of COVID-19 Scale—Associations of Its Scores with Health Literacy and Health-Related Behaviors among Medical Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Andrey Simonov & Szymon Sacher & Jean-Pierre Dube & Shirsho Biswas, 2020. "The Persuasive Effect of Fox News: Non-Compliance with Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Working Papers 2020-67, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    7. Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "Determinants and Consequences of Limited Health Literacy in Polish Society," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Mulukom, Valerie & Pummerer, Lotte J. & Alper, Sinan & Bai, Hui & Čavojová, Vladimíra & Farias, Jessica & Kay, Cameron S. & Lazarevic, Ljiljana B. & Lobato, Emilio J.C. & Marinthe, Gaëlle & Pavela, 2022. "Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    2. Uday Patil & Uliana Kostareva & Molly Hadley & Jennifer A. Manganello & Orkan Okan & Kevin Dadaczynski & Philip M. Massey & Joy Agner & Tetine Sentell, 2021. "Health Literacy, Digital Health Literacy, and COVID-19 Pandemic Attitudes and Behaviors in U.S. College Students: Implications for Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Federica Maria Magarini & Margherita Pinelli & Arianna Sinisi & Silvia Ferrari & Giovanna Laura De Fazio & Gian Maria Galeazzi, 2021. "Irrational Beliefs about COVID-19: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Agnihotri, Arpita & Bhattacharya, Saurabh & Yannopoulou, Natalia & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Examining social media engagement through health-related message framing in different cultures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 349-360.
    5. Mitja Vrdelja & Sanja Vrbovšek & Vito Klopčič & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan, 2021. "Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Yujia Sui & Bin Zhang, 2021. "Determinants of the Perceived Credibility of Rebuttals Concerning Health Misinformation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-17, February.
    7. Stefkovics, Ádám & Krekó, Péter & Koltai, Júlia, 2024. "When reality knocks on the door. The effect of conspiracy beliefs on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and the moderating role of experience with the virus," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    8. Vojtech Pisl & Jan Volavka & Edita Chvojkova & Katerina Cechova & Gabriela Kavalirova & Jan Vevera, 2021. "Dissociation, Cognitive Reflection and Health Literacy Have a Modest Effect on Belief in Conspiracy Theories about COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Fotakis, Emmanouil Alexandros & Simou, Effie, 2023. "Belief in COVID-19 related conspiracy theories around the globe: A systematic review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    10. María Jesús Fernández-Torres & Ana Almansa-Martínez & Rocío Chamizo-Sánchez, 2021. "Infodemic and Fake News in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    11. Željko Pavić & Emma Kovačević & Adrijana Šuljok, 2023. "Health literacy, religiosity, and political identification as predictors of vaccination conspiracy beliefs: a test of the deficit and contextual models," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orkan Okan & Torsten Michael Bollweg & Eva-Maria Berens & Klaus Hurrelmann & Ullrich Bauer & Doris Schaeffer, 2020. "Coronavirus-Related Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Adults during the COVID-19 Infodemic in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.
    2. Uday Patil & Uliana Kostareva & Molly Hadley & Jennifer A. Manganello & Orkan Okan & Kevin Dadaczynski & Philip M. Massey & Joy Agner & Tetine Sentell, 2021. "Health Literacy, Digital Health Literacy, and COVID-19 Pandemic Attitudes and Behaviors in U.S. College Students: Implications for Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "The Use of Fitness Influencers’ Websites by Young Adult Women: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Mariusz Duplaga, 2022. "The Roles of Health and e-Health Literacy, Conspiracy Beliefs and Political Sympathy in the Adherence to Preventive Measures Recommended during the Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-13, July.
    5. Mariusz Duplaga, 2020. "The Acceptance of Key Public Health Interventions by the Polish Population Is Related to Health Literacy, But Not eHealth Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Andrea Moscadelli & Giuseppe Albora & Massimiliano Alberto Biamonte & Duccio Giorgetti & Michele Innocenzio & Sonia Paoli & Chiara Lorini & Paolo Bonanni & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, 2020. "Fake News and Covid-19 in Italy: Results of a Quantitative Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    7. Minh H. Nguyen & Thu T. M. Pham & Kien T. Nguyen & Yen H. Nguyen & Tien V. Tran & Binh N. Do & Hung K. Dao & Huu C. Nguyen & Ngoc T. Do & Tung H. Ha & Dung T. Phan & Khue M. Pham & Linh V. Pham & Phuo, 2021. "Negative Impact of Fear of COVID-19 on Health-Related Quality of Life Was Modified by Health Literacy, eHealth Literacy, and Digital Healthy Diet Literacy: A Multi-Hospital Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Porismita Borah & Kyle Lorenzano & Anastasia Vishnevskaya & Erica Austin, 2022. "Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-13, June.
    9. Yafeng Zou & Qi Wang & Min Deng & Yujie Wang, 2021. "Community Intervention System: COVID-19 Control in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Robert J. R. Elliott & Ingmar Schumacher & Cees Withagen, 2020. "Suggestions for a Covid-19 Post-Pandemic Research Agenda in Environmental Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 1187-1213, August.
    11. Nicholas W. Papageorge & Matthew V. Zahn & Michèle Belot & Eline Broek-Altenburg & Syngjoo Choi & Julian C. Jamison & Egon Tripodi, 2021. "Socio-demographic factors associated with self-protecting behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 691-738, April.
    12. Ester Faia & Andreas Fuster & Vincenzo Pezone & Basit Zafar, 2024. "Biases in Information Selection and Processing: Survey Evidence from the Pandemic," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 829-847, May.
    13. Meijun Liu & Sijie Yang & Yi Bu & Ning Zhang, 2023. "Female early-career scientists have conducted less interdisciplinary research in the past six decades: evidence from doctoral theses," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Delphine Boutin & Laurène Petifour & Haris Megzari, 2022. "Instability of preferences due to Covid-19 Crisis and emotions: a natural experiment from urban Burkina Faso," Working Papers hal-03623601, HAL.
    15. Pronkina, Elizaveta & Berniell, Inés & Fawaz, Yarine & Laferrère, Anne & Mira, Pedro, 2023. "The COVID-19 curtain: Can past communist regimes explain the vaccination divide in Europe?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    16. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    17. Diana Tsoy & Danijela Godinic & Qingyan Tong & Bojan Obrenovic & Akmal Khudaykulov & Konstantin Kurpayanidi, 2022. "Impact of Social Media, Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) on the Intention to Stay at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-32, June.
    18. Maxim Ananyev & Michael Poyker & Yuan Tian, 2021. "The safest time to fly: pandemic response in the era of Fox News," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(3), pages 775-802, July.
    19. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Daisy Fancourt & Christian Krekel & Sarah Swanke, 2020. "Are happier people more compliant? Global evidence from three large-scale surveys during Covid-19 lockdowns," CEP Occasional Papers 54, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    20. Pilar Bas-Sarmiento & María José Lamas-Toranzo & Martina Fernández-Gutiérrez & Miriam Poza-Méndez, 2022. "Health Literacy, Misinformation, Self-Perceived Risk and Fear, and Preventive Measures Related to COVID-19 in Spanish University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-18, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:7818-:d:434685. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.