Agreement with COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Has Poor Temporal Stability.

IF 1.9 4区医学 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness Pub Date : 2024-10-30 DOI:10.1017/dmp.2024.260

Vojtech Pisl, Jan Volavka, Gabriela Kavalirova, Jan Vevera

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Low temporal stability may complicate the interpretation of survey measures of conspiracy theories (CTs). Current study examines the stability of endorsement of CTs on a popular set of items addressing COVID-19-related CTs. An online survey tapping two CTs about COVID-19 was administered to 179 students of general medicine. The same items were presented twice in March 2022 and once in May 2022. The mean endorsement of the CTs did not differ between March and May. The correlation between answers provided in March and May was low (.5 < r < .7). Most of those reporting agreement with CTs in March reported disagreement in May. Conspiracy believers' responses did not change between two measurements in March but were different in May, suggesting that the low temporal stability was due to situational factors rather than erroneous or random answers. Poor temporal stability of responses endorsing CTs may problematize interpretation of survey data. Respondents' endorsement of CTs may be affected by situational factors, inflating agreement with CTs, and correlations with other survey-based measures.

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与 COVID-19 阴谋论的一致性在时间上稳定性较差。

低时间稳定性可能会使阴谋论（CT）调查测量的解释复杂化。本研究探讨了在一组针对 COVID-19 相关阴谋论的流行项目上对阴谋论认可的稳定性。我们对 179 名全科医学专业的学生进行了一项在线调查，调查内容涉及有关 COVID-19 的两个 CT。相同的项目分别于 2022 年 3 月和 2022 年 5 月展示了两次。CT 的平均认可度在 3 月和 5 月间没有差异。3 月和 5 月提供的答案之间的相关性较低（.5 < r < .7）。大多数在 3 月份表示同意 CT 的人在 5 月份表示不同意。阴谋论信奉者的回答在 3 月份的两次测量中没有变化，但在 5 月份却有所不同，这表明时间稳定性低是由于情境因素而非错误或随机答案造成的。赞同 CT 的回答在时间上的稳定性较差，这可能会给调查数据的解释带来问题。受访者对 CT 的认可可能会受到情境因素的影响，夸大与 CT 的一致性，以及与其他基于调查的测量的相关性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

7.40%

发文量

258

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is the first comprehensive and authoritative journal emphasizing public health preparedness and disaster response for all health care and public health professionals globally. The journal seeks to translate science into practice and integrate medical and public health perspectives. With the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax attacks, the tsunami in Indonesia, hurricane Katrina, SARS and the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, all health care and public health professionals must be prepared to respond to emergency situations. In support of these pressing public health needs, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is committed to the medical and public health communities who are the stewards of the health and security of citizens worldwide.