Factors that impact COVID-19 conspirational beliefs and health-related behaviors

Ivanka Pjesivac, Leslie Klein (PhD student), Wenqing Zhao (PhD student),Xuerong Lu (recently graduated PhD student), and Yan Jin. (May 2022). “Factors that impact COVID-19 conspirational beliefs and health-related behaviors.” Poster presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association (ICA). Paris, France.

Abstract: This study seeks to investigate the role of conspiratorial beliefs on health-related behaviors during COVID-19. Via an online survey with 1024 U.S. adults, we found that general belief in conspiracy theories, personal risk perceptions, news media distrust, and vaccine non-confidence are key predictors of COVID-19 conspiratorial beliefs, while COVID-19 vaccine confidence is the best predictor of actual vaccination behavior. Belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories mediates the relationship between general beliefs in conspiracy theories and avoidance behaviors.