Abstract
Globally, the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created an interpersonally threatening context within which other people have become a source of possible threat. This study reports on the development and validation of a self-report measure of pandemic paranoia; that is, heightened levels of suspicion and mistrust towards others due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An international consortium developed an initial set of 28 items for the Pandemic Paranoia Scale (PPS), which were completed by participants from the UK (n = 512), USA (n = 535), Germany (n = 516), Hong Kong (n = 454) and Australia (n = 502) using stratified quota sampling (for age, sex and educational attainment) through Qualtrics and translated for Germany and Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis in the UK sample suggested a 25-item, three-factor solution (persecutory threat; paranoid conspiracy and interpersonal mistrust). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the remaining combined sample showed sufficient model fit in this independent set of data. Measurement invariance analyses suggested configural and metric invariance, but no scalar invariance across cultures/languages. A second-order factor CFA on the whole sample indicated that the three factors showed large loadings on a common second-order pandemic paranoia factor. Analyses also supported the test-retest reliability and internal and convergent validity. The PPS offers an internationally validated and reliable method for assessing paranoia in the context of a pandemic. The PPS has the potential to enhance our understanding of the impact of the pandemic, the nature of paranoia and to assist in identifying and supporting people affected by pandemic-specific paranoia.
Highlights
Paranoia, the belief that others will intentionally cause one harm (Freeman & Garety, 2000), is common in the general population with approximately 28% of individuals reporting the elevated levels of paranoid thinking in everyday life (Freeman et al, 2019)
Existing research on paranoia during the pandemic has utilised measures of paranoia that were developed prior to and independently of the pandemic. These studies have assessed instances of general paranoia during the pandemic, rather than pandemic-specific paranoia; that is, paranoid cognitions that focus on the threat posed by others to oneself because of the pandemic
The current paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the Pandemic Paranoia Scale (PPS), designed to measure pandemic-specific paranoia in the general population
Summary
The belief that others will intentionally cause one harm (Freeman & Garety, 2000), is common in the general population with approximately 28% of individuals reporting the elevated levels of paranoid thinking in everyday life (Freeman et al, 2019). Stress, triggered by environmental factors and affective states, is thought to enhance the probability that neutral stimuli are viewed as threatening, which functions to avoid possible harm whilst not missing possible social gain. Under these conditions, interpretations and decision making over-relies on paranoid-based interpretations of experience. This study reports on the development and validation of a self-report measure of pandemic paranoia; that is, heightened levels of suspicion and mistrust towards others due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPS offers an internationally validated and reliable method for assessing paranoia in the context of a pandemic. The PPS has the potential to enhance our understanding of the impact of the pandemic, the nature of paranoia and to assist in identifying and supporting people affected by pandemic-specific paranoia
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