Narcissism, national narcissism, COVID-19 conspiracy belief, and social media use as predictors of compliance with COVID-19 public health guidelines

Abstract

Understanding health belief models, and the variables that influence adherence to public health measures imposed by local governments and international health bodies, is crucial to slowing down the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Conspiracy theories about the virus have quickly spread on social media and have been linked to reluctance to comply with COVID-19 regulations. Personality traits such as narcissism and collective national narcissism have also been associated with the way we perceive severity and susceptibility to the disease. To examine this further, participants (N = 183) completed an online questionnaire measuring belief in COVID-19 conspiracies, trait narcissism, national narcissism, and social media usage. A model containing these variables was able to significantly predict adherence to COVID-19 preventative health behaviours, with higher levels of COVID-19 conspiracy belief, narcissism, and social media usage all contributing to reduced adherence to recommended COVID-19 health behaviours. The findings suggest conspiracy beliefs, narcissism, and social media play a key role in adherence to behaviours orientated towards stopping the spread of COVID-19. Governments and social media companies need to demonstrate greater awareness of the negative effects of conspiracy theories spread through social media, in addition to awareness of how these effects may be greater in more narcissistic individuals.

RETRACTED: Structural equation modeling to estimate treatment adherence based on the light triad of personality and sense of coherence in patients with type-2 diabetes: examining the mediating role of psychological well-being

“…In treatment adherence, numerous studies have examined potential associations between the dark triad of personality and compliance with health-related policies and guidelines ( Carvalho and Machado, 2020 ; Chávez-Ventura et al, 2022 ; Morales Vives et al, 2023 ). For instance, one study identified that narcissism, a constituent of the dark triad of personality, plays a substantial negative role in adherence to the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) health-related behaviors ( Vaal et al, 2022 ).…”

Enhancing the Predictive Power of Google Trends Data Through Network Analysis: Infodemiology Study of COVID-19

“…Although we did not focus on investigating the spread of misinformation during COVID-19, research has shown that receiving accurate and inaccurate information is inversely correlated with individuals' compliance with COVID-19 health guidelines [60][61][62][63]. Our data also show that the public may actively seek information on misinformation, as evidenced by the noninsignificant search interest in the term "hydroxychloroquine" (Textbox 1).…”

“…Our data also show that the public may actively seek information on misinformation, as evidenced by the noninsignificant search interest in the term "hydroxychloroquine" (Textbox 1). Owing to the nature of GT, we cannot confirm whether the users were searching for misinformation out of their beliefs in certain misinformation, the inclusion of users' interest in the information of different trustworthiness [60][61][62] and users' interest in those who propagate said information [40] is critical to a comprehensive infoveillance instrument.…”