Kampling, Hanna;
Riedl, David;
Hettich, Nora;
Lampe, Astrid;
Nolte, Tobias;
Zara, Sandra;
Ernst, Mareike;
... Kruse, Johannes; + view all
(2024)
To trust or not to trust in times of the COVID-19 pandemic – Conspiracy endorsement and the role of adverse childhood experiences, epistemic trust and personality functioning.
Social Science & Medicine
, 341
, Article 116526. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116526.
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Abstract
Rationale: Conspiracy endorsement is a public health challenge for the successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic. While usually considered a societal phenomenon, little is known about the equally important developmental backdrops and personality characteristics like mistrust that render an individual prone to conspiracy endorsement. There is a growing body of evidence implying a detrimental role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – a highly prevalent developmental burden – in the development of epistemic trust and personality functioning. This study aimed to investigate the association between ACEs and conspiracy endorsement in the general population, specifically questioning a mediating role of epistemic trust and personality functioning. / Methods: Based on cross-sectional data from a representative German survey collected during the COVID-19 pandemic (N=2,501), we conducted structural equation modelling (SEM) where personality functioning (OPD-SQS) and epistemic trust (ETMCQ) were included as mediators of the association between ACEs and conspiracy endorsement. Bootstrapped confidence intervals (5,000 samples, 95%-CI) are presented for all paths. / Results: ACEs were significantly associated with conspiracy endorsement (β=0.25, p<0.001) and explained 6% of its variance. Adding epistemic trust and personality functioning as mediators increased the explained variance of conspiracy endorsement to 19% while the direct association between ACEs and conspiracy endorsement was diminished (β=0.12, p<0.001), indicating an indirect effect of personality functioning and epistemic trust in the association between ACEs and conspiracy endorsement. Fit indices confirmed good model fit. / Conclusions: Establishing an association between ACEs and conspiracy endorsement further increases the evidence for early childhood adversities' far-reaching and detrimental effects. By including epistemic trust and personality functioning, these findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms in the way that ACEs may be associated with conspiracy endorsement.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | To trust or not to trust in times of the COVID-19 pandemic – Conspiracy endorsement and the role of adverse childhood experiences, epistemic trust and personality functioning |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116526 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116526 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Adverse child experiences, Child maltreatment, Conspiracy endorsement, Personality functioning, Epistemic trust, COVID-19, Mediation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10184609 |
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