Table 4. Differences in health literacy and beliefs about COVID-19 among the five clusters.
| Cluster 1 Calm/ hoax denial |
Cluster 2 Hoax affinity/ threat denial |
Cluster 3 Minority/ indifference |
Cluster 4 Over vigilance |
Cluster 5 Optimism |
F (df) | P | η2(95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
n = 1773 (29.6%) |
n = 1425 (23.8%) |
n = 228 (3.8%) |
n = 1293 (21.6%) |
n = 1281 (21.4%) |
|||||
| Susceptibility to infection | General ease of infection | 0.19 (0.61)b | 0.09 (0.55)c | −2.01 (1.34) e | 0.91 (0.48)a | −0.93 (0.58)d | 2069.07 (4, 1345.18) | <0.001 | 0.59 (0.57–0.60) |
| Extreme likelihood of infection | −0.36 (0.67)d | 0.36 (0.63)b | −1.75 (0.91) e | 0.69 (0.74)a | −0.29 (0.55)c | 816.74 (4, 1364.20) | <0.001 | 0.41 (0.39–0.43) | |
| Low perception of infection threat | −0.41 (0.74)c | 0.62 (0.62)a | −0.93 (1.05) d | −0.39 (0.75)c | 0.44 (0.54)b | 767.85 (4, 1359.50) | <0.001 | 0.34 (0.32–0.36) | |
| Ease of infection at dinners and parties | −0.22 (0.68)c | 0.33 (0.56)b | −1.99 (1.09) e | 0.91 (0.60)a | −0.62 (0.53)d | 1527.66 (4, 1355.09) | <0.001 | 0.54 (0.52–0.55) | |
| Ease of infection among young people | −0.35 (0.73)c | 0.48 (0.58)b | −1.80 (0.73) d | 0.58 (0.79)a | −0.31 (0.50)c | 987.19 (4, 1381.23) | <0.001 | 0.41 (0.39–0.43) | |
| Infection control | Excessive efficacy of infection control | −0.45 (0.68)d | 0.75 (0.73)a | −1.39 (0.85) e | −0.36 (0.72)c | 0.40 (0.55)b | 955.50 (4, 1372.19) | <0.001 | 0.41 (0.39–0.43) |
| Efficacy in vaccines and infection control | 0.03 (0.69)b | 0.39 (0.56)a | −2.11 (1.11) d | 0.37 (0.75)a | −0.47 (0.58)c | 671.73 (4, 1353.01) | <0.001 | 0.38 (0.36–0.40) | |
| Dissatisfaction with PCR testing system and vaccines | −0.10 (0.76)c | 0.17 (0.61)b | −1.43 (0.85) e | 0.63 (0.80)a | −0.43 (0.54)d | 593.02 (4, 1373.18) | <0.001 | 0.31 (0.29–0.32) | |
| Inefficacy of therapeutic drugs | 0.01 (0.76)c | −0.10 (0.57) d | 0.48 (0.75) a | −0.17 (0.87)d | 0.19 (0.57)b | 83.22 (4, 1382.23) | <0.001 | 0.05 (0.04–0.06) | |
| Hoax, conspiracy theories, and optimism | Hoax/conspiracy beliefs | −0.64 (0.46)d | 0.74 (0.92)a | −0.67 (0.76) d | −0.46 (0.59)c | 0.64 (0.73)b | 1260.31 (4, 1348.05) | <0.001 | 0.46 (0.44–0.47) |
| Large social impact beliefs | 0.07 (0.66)b | 0.06 (0.55)b | −1.85 (1.10) d | 0.88 (0.61)a | −0.72 (0.57)c | 1365.21 (4, 1353.46) | <0.001 | 0.51 (0.49–0.53) | |
| China-originated beliefs | −0.54 (0.79)c | 0.43 (0.74)a | −1.05 (0.95) d | 0.48 (0.94)a | −0.02 (0.66)b | 483.45 (4, 1373.26) | <0.001 | 0.26 (0.24–0.28) | |
| Optimism | −0.46 (0.65)b | 0.65 (0.65)a | −0.63 (1.03) b,c | −0.62 (0.64)c | 0.66 (0.58) a | 1306.59 (4, 1357.75) | <0.001 | 0.45 (0.44–0.47) | |
| Belief in just deserts | Belief in just deserts | −0.58 (0.81)c | 0.55 (0.85)a | −1.00 (0.74) d | 0.20 (1.15)b | 0.17 (0.70)b | 500.87 (4, 1410.67) | <0.001 | 0.22 (0.21–0.24) |
Notes.
*
Different letters represent significant differences (P < 0.05). Higher numbers are in the alphabetical order. The highest and lowest groups are highlighted in bold font.