Assessing the dimensionality of a New Italian Covid-19 Conspiracy Beliefs Questionnaire

This study aimed to develop a questionnaire to measure conspiracy beliefs about Covid-19, the related agents involved in its diffusion, the contemporary conspiracy theories about these agents, and assess its dimensionality and factorial structure. Eight different factor retention criteria were compared and three factors were retained. The first factor contained items on conspiracy beliefs about the origins of Covid-19 and the possible purposes behind its spreading. The second factor considered conspiracies about vaccines, 5G or conspiracies led by Bill Gates or Jewish organizations. The third factor was skepticism about the existence of world events. The three-factor model reached an acceptable fit. The assessment of conspiracy beliefs or the evaluation of the interventions to counter conspiracy beliefs might be possible future applications for this questionnaire.