Coping strategies and belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories

Photo by: Kate Trifo/Unsplash

Published in the British Journal of Social Psychology

AUTHORS
Zuzanna Molenda, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Marta Marchlewska, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Adam Karakula, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Dagmara Szczepańska, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Marta Rogoza, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Ricky Green, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Aleksandra Cislak, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
Karen M. Douglas, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

ABSTRACT
Conspiracy beliefs have been related to aversive emotional experiences often accompanying major world events and have also been linked to maladaptive ways of coping with stress. In this research, we examined how different coping strategies (i.e. self-sufficient, social-support, avoidance and religious) predicted the adoption of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. In two studies (Study 1, n = 1000 and Study 2, n = 616) conducted among Polish participants, we found that avoidance and religious coping were positively linked to COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. In Study 1, conspiracy beliefs also mediated the positive relationships between avoidance and religious coping and adherence to safety and self-isolation guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 2 additionally showed that the relationship between fear, induced by reading threatening news on COVID-19, and conspiracy beliefs was the strongest among those high in avoidance coping. These studies highlight the role of coping strategies in the adoption of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. MORE