Conspiracy beliefs are ubiquitous in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This may be because they directly affect own and others' health and economic outcomes due to detrimental effects on preventive behaviour. We aimed to (a) test key hypotheses on the correlates of generic beliefs in conspiracy theories in this high-threat real-life setting, (b) examine the role of trust in mediating effects of conspiracy beliefs on preventive behaviour, and (c) thereby inform the public health response. Using cross-sectional data (N = 1013) from the German COVID-19 monitoring we tested the relationships between conspiracy beliefs and (a) social and economic worries, (b) trust in media, the government, public health institutions, and science, and (c) hygiene-related and contact-related preventive behaviour. Results were in line with expectations apart from null findings for the relationships with social worries and hygiene-related preventive behaviour. Trust in government mediated effects of conspiracy beliefs on contact-related preventive behaviour.

中文翻译：

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阴谋骗局？测试有关 COVID-19 大流行期间阴谋论中一般信念的相关性的关键假设


在当前的 COVID-19 大流行中，阴谋论无处不在。这可能是因为它们对预防行为产生有害影响，从而直接影响自己和他人的健康和经济成果。我们的目的是（a）测试关于在这种高威胁的现实生活环境中阴谋论的一般信念之间的相关性的关键假设，（b）研究信任在阴谋信念对预防行为的中介作用中的作用，以及（c）从而为公共卫生应对措施提供信息。使用来自德国 COVID-19 监测的横截面数据 ( N = 1013)，我们测试了阴谋论信念与 (a) 社会和经济担忧，(b) 对媒体、政府、公共卫生机构和科学的信任之间的关系， (c) 卫生相关和接触相关的预防行为。除了与社会担忧和卫生相关预防行为的关系没有发现外，结果符合预期。对政府的信任介导了阴谋信念对接触相关预防行为的影响。