When it comes to falling down a rabbit hole with conspiracy theories ― QAnon, the “Plandemic” conspiracy theory ― it’s young people, not older demographics, who are more prone to buy into such beliefs.
Age is the most significant predictor of conspiracy beliefs among all other factors, according to a study that was recently published in the journal Political Psychology. And it’s people under 35 who are consistently more likely to endorse conspiratorial ideas than any other age group.
“From age 35 on, susceptibility to conspiracy theories decreases relatively steadily across older age groups,” said Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau, a research Fellow at the Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies, at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.
Political conspiracy theories are pushing more and more family relationships to the breaking point. It’s not uncommon to hear about siblings who are estranged over extremist political views or people who “lost” their family members to QAnon, a conspiracy theory that posits that a satanic cabal of elites and pedophiles is working behind the scenes to orchestrate global events and enslave children.
Conspiracy theories increasingly affect our elections, too; QAnon believers came out heavily for President Trump in recent elections; to them, Trump is a white-knight figure destined to bring down the aforementioned cabal. (That’s what’s made his current handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files such a divisive issue for many.)
And voter fraud conspiracy theories drove thousands to violently storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an act of domestic terrorism that threatened the nation’s peaceful transfer of power.
Given the growing impact of conspiracy theories in our political and personal lives, Bordeleau and Daniel Stockemer, a political studies professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada, thought it was high time to find out what factors most influence people buying in.
“We were really curious to understand why some people adhere to some really unbelievable narratives like the flat Earth theory and QAnon,” Bordeleau told HuffPost. “Our results don’t imply that all young people are attracted to all conspiracy theories, but what we can demonstrate is that younger people are more likely to believe various conspiracy theories than older individuals.
If you assumed it might be Boomers who most frequently fall into conspiracy theory traps ― there are countless depressing stories in online forums of grown children detailing how their Fox News-watching parents fell into a QAnon rabbit hole after “doing research” ― you’re not alone. Bordeleau figured that would be the case, too.
Younger citizens being more conspiratorial as a whole “definitely goes against the typical stereotype of the older uncle at the Christmas table exposing the latest conspiracy theories,” Bordeleau said. “Initially, we were quite surprised to see that younger people were most likely to believe in conspiracies.”
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Given the growing impact of conspiracy theories in our political and personal lives, Bordeleau and Daniel Stockemer, a political studies professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada, thought it was high time to find out what factors most influence people buying in.
To find all this out, the researchers conducted a meta analysis ― a kind of “study of studies” ― which synthesized the results of 191 peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2024.
This huge dataset, which included over 374,000 participants, suggested a “robust” association between young age and belief in conspiracies, Bordeleau said.
“To confirm that, we ran our own original multinational survey of more than 6,000 people across six diverse countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the U.S. and South Africa,” he explained.
Regardless of the country, the results were the same: Age was the most potent predictor of conspiratorial belief systems, more than a person’s gender, level of education or income.
So why are younger generations more intrigued by conspiracy theories? Bordeleau and Stockemer think there are three interconnected reasons.
“First, the fact that younger people have a deep sense of political disaffection and alienation,” Bordeleau said. “Second, there’s a tendency for younger people to adopt an activist style of political participation and be exposed to more radical environments, where conspiracy theories thrive.” (QAnon originated on the dark web first, with various ideas circulating on 4chan and 8chan as early as 2017.)
Lastly, there’s the self-confidence factor, or lack thereof. Self-esteem fluctuates throughout our lives, but studies show that adolescence tends to be a period of heightened lower self-esteem, particularly for young girls.
“Low self-esteem can partly explain why younger people are attracted to conspiracy theories,” Bordeleau said. “It becomes a way to cope with feelings of powerlessness.”
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Age more than any other demographic factors the researchers looked at ― a person’s gender, level of education or income ― was the most powerful predictor of consfpiratorial belief systems.
Bordeleau said he’d love to further research the socialization component of conspiracy beliefs: how young people are exposed to these narratives, for instance, and whether or not social pressures play a part.
On a wider social level, he hopes that more time and resources are put into looking for ways to help young people become more media literate.
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