Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world

Paweł Brzóska; Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska; Jarosław Piotrowski; Bartłomiej Nowak; Peter K. Jonason; Constantine Sedikides; Mladen Adamovic; Kokou A. Atitsogbe; Oli Ahmed; Uzma Azam; Sergiu Bălțătescu; Konstantin Bochaver; Aidos Bolatov; Mario Bonato; Victor Counted; Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon; Jano Ramos-Diaz; Sonya Dragova-Koleva; Walaa Labib M. Eldesoki; Carla Sofia Esteves; Valdiney V. Gouveia; Pablo Perez de Leon; Dzintra Iliško; Jesus Alfonso D. Datu; Fanli Jia; Veljko Jovanović; Tomislav Jukić; Narine Khachatryan; Monika Kovacs; Uri Lifshin; Aitor Larzabal Fernandez; Kadi Liik; Sadia Malik; Chanki Moon; Stephan Muehlbacher; Reza Najafi; Emre Oruç; Joonha Park; Iva Poláčková Šolcová; Rahkman Ardi; Ognjen Ridic; Goran Ridic; Yadgar Ismail Said; Andrej Starc; Delia Stefenel; Kiều Thị Thanh Trà; Habib Tiliouine; Robert Tomšik; Jorge Torres-Marin; Charles S. Umeh; Eduardo Wills-Herrera; Anna Wlodarczyk; Zahir Vally; Illia Yahiiaiev

doi:10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world

Paweł Brzóska, Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska^*, Jarosław Piotrowski, Bartłomiej Nowak, Peter K. Jonason, Constantine Sedikides, Mladen Adamovic, Kokou A. Atitsogbe, Oli Ahmed, Uzma Azam, Sergiu Bălțătescu, Konstantin Bochaver, Aidos Bolatov, Mario Bonato, Victor Counted, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon, Jano Ramos-Diaz, Sonya Dragova-Koleva, Walaa Labib M. Eldesoki, Carla Sofia EstevesValdiney V. Gouveia, Pablo Perez de Leon, Dzintra Iliško, Jesus Alfonso D. Datu, Fanli Jia, Veljko Jovanović, Tomislav Jukić, Narine Khachatryan, Monika Kovacs, Uri Lifshin, Aitor Larzabal Fernandez, Kadi Liik, Sadia Malik, Chanki Moon, Stephan Muehlbacher, Reza Najafi, Emre Oruç, Joonha Park, Iva Poláčková Šolcová, Rahkman Ardi, Ognjen Ridic, Goran Ridic, Yadgar Ismail Said, Andrej Starc, Delia Stefenel, Kiều Thị Thanh Trà, Habib Tiliouine, Robert Tomšik, Jorge Torres-Marin, Charles S. Umeh, Eduardo Wills-Herrera, Anna Wlodarczyk, Zahir Vally, Illia Yahiiaiev

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	301-326
Number of pages	26
Journal	Thinking and Reasoning
Volume	30
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539
Publication status	Published - 2024

Keywords

Conspiracy beliefs
COVID-19
Cross-cultural
Health beliefs
Unfounded beliefs

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10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

Cite this

Brzóska, P., Żemojtel-Piotrowska, M., Piotrowski, J., Nowak, B., Jonason, P. K., Sedikides, C., Adamovic, M., Atitsogbe, K. A., Ahmed, O., Azam, U., Bălțătescu, S., Bochaver, K., Bolatov, A., Bonato, M., Counted, V., Chaleeraktrakoon, T., Ramos-Diaz, J., Dragova-Koleva, S., Eldesoki, W. L. M., ... Yahiiaiev, I. (2024). Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world. Thinking and Reasoning, 30(2), 301-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

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title = "Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world",

abstract = "Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates.",

keywords = "Conspiracy beliefs, COVID-19, Cross-cultural, Health beliefs, Unfounded beliefs",

author = "Pawe{\l} Brz{\'o}ska and Magdalena {\.Z}emojtel-Piotrowska and Jaros{\l}aw Piotrowski and Bart{\l}omiej Nowak and Jonason, {Peter K.} and Constantine Sedikides and Mladen Adamovic and Atitsogbe, {Kokou A.} and Oli Ahmed and Uzma Azam and Sergiu B{\u a}lț{\u a}tescu and Konstantin Bochaver and Aidos Bolatov and Mario Bonato and Victor Counted and Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon and Jano Ramos-Diaz and Sonya Dragova-Koleva and Eldesoki, {Walaa Labib M.} and Esteves, {Carla Sofia} and Gouveia, {Valdiney V.} and {Perez de Leon}, Pablo and Dzintra Ili{\v s}ko and Datu, {Jesus Alfonso D.} and Fanli Jia and Veljko Jovanovi{\'c} and Tomislav Juki{\'c} and Narine Khachatryan and Monika Kovacs and Uri Lifshin and {Larzabal Fernandez}, Aitor and Kadi Liik and Sadia Malik and Chanki Moon and Stephan Muehlbacher and Reza Najafi and Emre Oru{\c c} and Joonha Park and {\v S}olcov{\'a}, {Iva Pol{\'a}{\v c}kov{\'a}} and Rahkman Ardi and Ognjen Ridic and Goran Ridic and Said, {Yadgar Ismail} and Andrej Starc and Delia Stefenel and Tr{\`a}, {Kiều Thị Thanh} and Habib Tiliouine and Robert Tom{\v s}ik and Jorge Torres-Marin and Umeh, {Charles S.} and Eduardo Wills-Herrera and Anna Wlodarczyk and Zahir Vally and Illia Yahiiaiev",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",

year = "2024",

doi = "10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539",

language = "English",

volume = "30",

pages = "301--326",

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Brzóska, P, Żemojtel-Piotrowska, M, Piotrowski, J, Nowak, B, Jonason, PK, Sedikides, C, Adamovic, M, Atitsogbe, KA, Ahmed, O, Azam, U, Bălțătescu, S, Bochaver, K, Bolatov, A, Bonato, M, Counted, V, Chaleeraktrakoon, T, Ramos-Diaz, J, Dragova-Koleva, S, Eldesoki, WLM, Esteves, CS, Gouveia, VV, Perez de Leon, P, Iliško, D, Datu, JAD, Jia, F, Jovanović, V, Jukić, T, Khachatryan, N, Kovacs, M, Lifshin, U, Larzabal Fernandez, A, Liik, K, Malik, S, Moon, C, Muehlbacher, S, Najafi, R, Oruç, E, Park, J, Šolcová, IP, Ardi, R, Ridic, O, Ridic, G, Said, YI, Starc, A, Stefenel, D, Trà, KTT, Tiliouine, H, Tomšik, R, Torres-Marin, J, Umeh, CS, Wills-Herrera, E, Wlodarczyk, A, Vally, Z & Yahiiaiev, I 2024, 'Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world', Thinking and Reasoning, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 301-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

TY - JOUR

T1 - Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world

AU - Brzóska, Paweł

AU - Żemojtel-Piotrowska, Magdalena

AU - Piotrowski, Jarosław

AU - Nowak, Bartłomiej

AU - Jonason, Peter K.

AU - Sedikides, Constantine

AU - Adamovic, Mladen

AU - Atitsogbe, Kokou A.

AU - Ahmed, Oli

AU - Azam, Uzma

AU - Bălțătescu, Sergiu

AU - Bochaver, Konstantin

AU - Bolatov, Aidos

AU - Bonato, Mario

AU - Counted, Victor

AU - Chaleeraktrakoon, Trawin

AU - Ramos-Diaz, Jano

AU - Dragova-Koleva, Sonya

AU - Eldesoki, Walaa Labib M.

AU - Esteves, Carla Sofia

AU - Gouveia, Valdiney V.

AU - Perez de Leon, Pablo

AU - Iliško, Dzintra

AU - Datu, Jesus Alfonso D.

AU - Jia, Fanli

AU - Jovanović, Veljko

AU - Jukić, Tomislav

AU - Khachatryan, Narine

AU - Kovacs, Monika

AU - Lifshin, Uri

AU - Larzabal Fernandez, Aitor

AU - Liik, Kadi

AU - Malik, Sadia

AU - Moon, Chanki

AU - Muehlbacher, Stephan

AU - Najafi, Reza

AU - Oruç, Emre

AU - Park, Joonha

AU - Šolcová, Iva Poláčková

AU - Ardi, Rahkman

AU - Ridic, Ognjen

AU - Ridic, Goran

AU - Said, Yadgar Ismail

AU - Starc, Andrej

AU - Stefenel, Delia

AU - Trà, Kiều Thị Thanh

AU - Tiliouine, Habib

AU - Tomšik, Robert

AU - Torres-Marin, Jorge

AU - Umeh, Charles S.

AU - Wills-Herrera, Eduardo

AU - Wlodarczyk, Anna

AU - Vally, Zahir

AU - Yahiiaiev, Illia

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates.

AB - Unfounded—conspiracy and health—beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = 0.57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMS = 0.07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03) and educational levels (CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMS = 0.03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates.

KW - Conspiracy beliefs

KW - COVID-19

KW - Cross-cultural

KW - Health beliefs

KW - Unfounded beliefs

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U2 - 10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

DO - 10.1080/13546783.2023.2259539

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85173534370

SN - 1354-6783

VL - 30

SP - 301

EP - 326

JO - Thinking and Reasoning

JF - Thinking and Reasoning

IS - 2

ER -

Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world

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Testing the underlying structure of unfounded beliefs about COVID-19 around the world

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