2024/10/01 by Jean‐Nicolas Bordeleau, Daniel Stockemer · 2 voices · 16 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Developmental psychology #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Psychology #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Social psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/pops.13044
published in Political Psychology 46(5), 931-946 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2024/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract Research on conspiracy theories has long turned a blind eye on the role of age in explaining conspiracy beliefs. Few studies include age and those that do have yet to consider how and why age matters when it comes to the spread of conspiracy theories. In this article, we investigate the relationship between age and conspiracy beliefs with two complementary studies. In Study 1, we conduct a meta‐analysis of a large sample of studies on conspiracy beliefs published between 2014 and 2024 ( k = 191; N = 374,224). The results reveal a small but robust negative association between age and conspiracy endorsement. In Study 2, we use an original multinational survey to investigate three potential mechanisms that may explain the relationship between age and conspiracy beliefs ( N = 6098). We explain youth's higher beliefs in conspiracy theories by their predisposition to unconventional styles of political participation, lower levels of self‐esteem, and general political disaffection.