TABLE 3.

The results of hierarchical linear regression predicting China-specific, generic COVID-19, as well as non-COVID-19 generic conspiracy beliefs in Study 1 and 2.

	China-specific COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (Study 1)		Generic COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (Study 1)		Generic COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs (Study 2)		Generic (non-COVID-19) conspiracy beliefs (Study 2)
Predictors	β	95% CI	β	95% CI	β	95% CI	β	95% CI
Step 1	ΔR2 = 0.023		ΔR2 = 0.016		ΔR2 = 0.085		ΔR2 = 0.057
Age	−0.02	[−0.11, 0.06]	0.08	[−0.00, 0.17]	0.15	[0.09, 0.21]	0.11	[0.05, 0.17]
Gender	0.13	[0.04, 0.21]	0.01	[−0.07, 0.10]	0.06	[−0.01, 0.11]	−0.03	[−0.09, 0.03]
Education	−0.07	[−0.16, 0.01]	−0.09	[−0.18, −0.00]	−0.22	[−0.28, −0.16]	−0.18	[−0.24, −0.12]
Step 2	ΔR2 = 0.074		ΔR2 = 0.079		ΔR2 = 0.067		ΔR2 = 0.046
COVID-19 news exposure	−0.07	[−0.16, 0.03]	−0.17	[−0.27, −0.08]	−0.27	[−0.34, −0.21]	−0.21	[−0.27, −0.15]
Anxiety	0.07	[−0.04, 0.18]	0.05	[−0.06, 0.16]	0.09	[0.03, 0.15]	0.10	[0.04, 0.17]
Lack of control	0.25	[0.14, 0.35]	0.27	[0.16, 0.37]	0.03	[−0.03, 0.10]	0.08	[0.01, 0.14]
Full model	R2 = 0.103		R2 = 0.095		R2 = 0.153		R2 = 0.103

The table shows the results of four hierarchical linear regressions predicting China-specific and generic COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, as well as generic (not related to COVID-19) conspiracy beliefs with several demographic (Step 1) and cognitive and emotional predictors (Step 2). Standardized regression coefficients (β’s) and their 95% confidence intervals are presented for every predictor in the final model. Also, the table shows the change in R² for the both steps of the model as well as the final model. Significant predictors (p < 0.05) are presented in bold. Gender was coded as 1 = “men,” 2 = “women.”