It’s All Just A Lie. I Know It!COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs and COVID-19 Anxiety Versus the War in Ukraine: The Role of Dogmatism

Abstract Our study investigated the relationship between Romanian adults' COVID-19 and the Ukrainian war conspiracy beliefs, COVID-19 anxiety, and dogmatism. The sample comprised 227 Romanian adults aged 18 to 57 ( M = 24.21, SD = 8.82), residents of the northeastern part of the country, located near the Ukrainian border. Participants completed self-reported measures of COVID-19 anxiety, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, dogmatism, and Ukrainian war-related conspiracy beliefs. Correlation analysis suggested that dogmatism was not significantly related to COVID-19 anxiety, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, and conspiracy beliefs about war. However, COVID-19 anxiety was positively associated with conspiracy beliefs about war. Also, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were positively associated with conspiracy beliefs about the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, the results suggested that COVID-19 anxiety did not moderate the relationship between dogmatism and conspiracy beliefs about the war. We discuss the current findings regarding their possible contribution to addressing the harmful effects of conspiracy beliefs on one’s social, political, and psychological environment.