Exploring COVID-19 conspiracy theories: education, religiosity, trust in scientists, and political orientation in 26 European countries.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 virus disseminated globally at an accelerated pace, culminating in a worldwide pandemic; it engendered a proliferation of spurious information and a plethora of misinformation and conspiracy theories (CTs). While many factors contributing to the propensity for embracing conspiracy ideation have been delineated, the foremost determinant influencing individuals' proclivity towards CT endorsement appears to be their level of educational attainment. This research aimed to assess the moderating effect of religiosity, trust in scientists, and political orientation on the impact of education level on people's belief in COVID-19-related CTs in Europe by considering both individual-level and country-level contextual covariates of CT. We analysed data from the newest European Social Sur

SUBMITTER: Jabkowski P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10593806 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature