Evidence of the psychological effects of pseudoscientific information about COVID-19 on rural and urban populations

PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH

卷:295

Article

Escola-Gascon, Alex¹  Marin, Francesc-Xavier¹  Rusinol, Jordi¹  Gallifa, Josep¹ 

[1] Ramon Llull Univ, Fac Psychol Educ & Sport Sci, FPCEE Blanquerna, Barcelona, Spain

关键词: COVID-19;    rural municipalities;    SARS-CoV-2;    Psychological Well-being;    Pseudoscientific Information;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113628

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

This research aims to analyze the effects of pseudoscientific information (PI) about COVID-19 on the mental wellbeing of the general population. A total of 782 participants were classified according to the type of municipality in which they lived (rural municipalities and urban municipalities). The participants answered psychometric questionnaires that assessed psychological well-being, pseudoscientific beliefs and the ability to discriminate between scientific and pseudoscientific information about COVID-19. The results indicated the following: the greater the ability to discriminate between false information and true information, the greater the levels of psychological well-being perceived by the participant. The ability to discriminate predicts up to 32% of psychological well-being only for subjects living in rural municipalities. Residents in urban municipalities showed lower levels of well-being than residents in rural municipalities. It is concluded that new social resources are needed to help the general population of urban municipalities discriminate between pseudoscientific and scientific information.

【 授权许可】

Free