Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses
Date of Award
Spring 4-12-2021
Program
Psychology
Supervisor
Dr. Leslie Janes
Abstract
This study investigates the interplay between social media use for COVID-19 related information, belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and the negative behaviours associated with these conspiracy theories that manifest in participants’ disregard of health-protective behaviours. Participants (N = 69) were recruited from an all-female undergraduate population and completed one online questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic information and experience with the pandemic. Questions about COVID-19 conspiracy theories and health-protective behaviours were adapted from Allington et al.’s (2020) research. A Pearson correlation analysis for using social media or traditional news as a main source of COVID-19 information was not significant with measures of COVID-19 conspiracy belief or health-protective behaviours related to COVID-19. However, the analysis of COVID-19 conspiracy belief and health-protective behaviours related to COVID-19 showed a significant negative correlation, such that conspiracy beliefs were related to less health-protective behaviours.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Patry, Kitara, "The Impact of Using Social Media to Understand the Pandemic: Does it Spread Conspiracy and Discourage Health-Protective Behaviours?" (2021). Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses. 29.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brescia_psych_uht/29