The concomitants of conspiracy concerns.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Conspiracy worldviews can erode individual and societal well-being.
• Mistrust is a key component of conspiracy thinking.
• Empirical study is needed to understand conspiracy beliefs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify correlates of conspiracy thinking in a representative US sample.
• To investigate the association between conspiracy beliefs and various demographic, social, and health factors.
• To establish the prevalence of conspiracy beliefs in the adult population.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from the US National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (NCS-R).
• Inclusion of 5645 participants who responded to a specific conspiracy belief item.
• Weighting of results to ensure representativeness of the US adult English-speaking household population.

Main Results:

• 26.7% of participants endorsed conspiracy beliefs.
• Conspiracy believers were more likely to be male, unmarried, less educated, lower income, outside the labor force, ethnic minorities, non-religious attendees, carrying weapons, and perceive lower social standing.
• Conspiracy believers exhibited lower physical/psychological well-being, higher suicidal ideation, weaker social networks, insecure attachment, difficult childhoods, and higher psychiatric disorder rates.

Conclusions:

• Conspiracy worldviews are associated with increased risks for adverse outcomes.
• Conspiracy thinking represents a cognitive style requiring further empirical investigation.
• Monitoring prevalence, causation, and propagation of conspiracy beliefs is essential.