Unwillingness to engage in behaviors that protect against COVID-19: Conspiracy, trust, reactance, and endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine
Background: We investigated if people’s unwillingness to comply with the official recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by conspiracy beliefs, state reactance, a distrust in information sources, and an endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Methods: The sample consisted of 1325 Finnish adults who filled out an online survey marketed on Facebook. Structural regression analysis was used to investigate whether: 1) conspiracy beliefs, state reactance, a distrust in information sources, and endorsement of CAM predict people’s willingness to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2) conspiracy beliefs, a distrust in information sources and endorsement of CAM are related to people’s willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Results: Individuals with higher state reactance, a lower trust in information sources and more endorsement of CAM were less likely to comply with the NPIs. Individuals with less trust in information sources and more endorsement of CAM were also more unwilling to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions: Responding with state reactance towards government measures, distrusting the establishment to provide accurate information, and endorsing treatments and substances that are not part of conventional medicine, are associated with a lower intent to engage in health protective behavior during COVID-19. These findings highlight the need for governments and health authorities to create communication strategies that build public trust and minimize the risk of reactance.