Conspiracy endorsement and its associations with personality functioning, anxiety, loneliness, and sociodemographic characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic in a representative sample of the German population
- Publication type:
- Journal article
- Metadata:
-
- Abstract
- <jats:sec id="sec001"> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals have been found to endorse conspiracy beliefs. Socio-demographic variables, personality functioning, anxiety, and loneliness could be risk factors for this endorsement.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="sec002"> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>In a representative sample of the German population (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 2,503) measures of conspiracy mentality, conspiracy-related beliefs toward COVID-19, personality functioning (OPD-SQS), anxiety (HADS), and loneliness (UCLA) were assessed. Pearson product-moment correlations and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="sec003"> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Conspiracy mentality and conspiracy-related beliefs toward COVID-19 were strongly correlated. Regression analyses found younger age, male gender, lower education, and lower income to be associated with conspiracy mentality. The subscales <jats:italic>relationship model</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>self-perception</jats:italic> of the OPD-SQS were positively related to conspiracy mentality whereas <jats:italic>interpersonal contact</jats:italic> was negatively associated. Higher levels of anxiety were statistically predictive for conspiracy mentality.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="sec004"> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>Our findings indicate a contribution of personality functioning to the understanding of conspiracy mentality and thus to the advancement of interventions during the pandemic.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
- Autoren
- Nora Hettich
- Manfred E Beutel
- Mareike Ernst
- Clara Schliessler
- Hanna Kampling
- Johannes Kruse
- Elmar Braehler
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0263301
- Editoren
- Stephan Doering
- eISSN
- 1932-6203
- Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
- 1
- Zeitschrift
- PLOS ONE
- Sprache
- en
- Online publication date
- 2022
- Paginierung
- e0263301 - e0263301
- Status
- Published online
- Herausgeber
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Herausgeber URL
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263301
- Datum der Datenerfassung
- 2022
- Titel
- Conspiracy endorsement and its associations with personality functioning, anxiety, loneliness, and sociodemographic characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic in a representative sample of the German population
- Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
- 17
Data source: Crossref
- Other metadata sources:
-
- Author's licence
- CC-BY
- Autoren
- Nora Hettich
- Manfred E Beutel
- Mareike Ernst
- Clara Schliessler
- Hanna Kampling
- Johannes Kruse
- Elmar Brähler
- Hosting institution
- Universitätsbibliothek Mainz
- Sammlungen
- DFG-491381577-G
- Resource version
- Published version
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0263301
- Funding acknowledgements
- Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 491381577
- File(s) embargoed
- false
- Open access
- true
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
- 1
- Zeitschrift
- PLOS ONE
- Schlüsselwörter
- 610 Medizin
- 610 Medical sciences
- Sprache
- eng
- Open access status
- Open Access
- Paginierung
- e0263301
- Datum der Veröffentlichung
- 2022
- Public URL
- https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/8687
- Herausgeber
- PLOS
- Datum der Datenerfassung
- 2023
- Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde
- 2023
- Zugang
- Public
- Titel
- Conspiracy endorsement and its associations with personality functioning, anxiety, loneliness, and sociodemographic characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic in a representative sample of the German population
- Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
- 17
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conspiracy_endorsement_and_it-20230126115043924.pdf
Data source: OPENSCIENCE.UB