Willingness to get a vaccine was important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies suggest that vaccine hesitation during the pandemic could have been related to truth discernment, belief in information, exposure to misinformation, attitudes to vaccines, and conspiracy beliefs. Previous studies were mostly with younger adults, and studies with older adults are lacking. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the trust or belief in fake online news (print news was not included), truth discernment, attitudes, and willingness to be vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic while controlling for some significant factors/variables that could affect vaccination in a sample of older adults. There were 504 pre-retirees and retirees participating in this study. Participants from Lithuania age ranged from 50 to 90 years old (M = 64.37, SD = 9.10), 58.3 percent were females. Results from several path models predicting the participants willingness to get a vaccine suggested that stronger conspiracy beliefs and skeptical attitudes toward vaccination would be related to lower willingness to get vaccinated. Participants who disbelieved in the headlines were already vaccinated. Therefore, it seems that discernment (the ability to distinguish which information is true and which is not) is not related to the willingness to vaccinate.

Depression in later life is a pressing public health concern that is often comorbid with chronic illness and associated with substantial declines in psychological well-being. Drawing on the dual continua model of mental health, this study investigated the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between psychological well-being and depressive symptoms among older adults in the Baltic States. Using two waves of data (2019/2020 and 2021/2022) from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we analyzed responses from 5,874 individuals aged 50 and above in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Psychological well-being was assessed using the CASP-12 scale, and depressive symptoms using the EURO-D scale. A cross-lagged panel model, adjusted for age, gender, and multimorbidity, revealed that both constructs were moderately stable over time and negatively associated in each wave. Notably, psychological well-being at baseline significantly predicted depressive symptoms 2 years later (β = −0.17, p < 0.001), and depressive symptoms also predicted subsequent well-being (β = −0.07, p < 0.001), suggesting a bidirectional relationship with stronger effects from well-being to depression. These findings support the dual continua model and underscore the importance of promoting psychological well-being to mitigate depression risk in ageing populations.

This article aims to evaluate 5 Beck scales – Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale (BSS), and Clark–Beck Obsession-Compulsion Inventory (CBOCI) – comparing clinical and normative samples, and to determine clinically relevant cutoffs. The clinical sample consisted of 242 persons aged 18–74; 39 percent were men and 61 percent were women. The normative sample consisted of 1296 persons aged 18–95; 44 percent were men and 56 percent were women. In order to compare the estimates of the normative and clinical samples of the Beck scales, a paired data study sample was formed – 230 participants from the clinical and normative groups each. The clinical sample was divided into four groups according to the primary diagnoses: 107 (46.5%) patients were diagnosed with mood (affective) disorder (F30–F39), 38 (16.5%) with neurophysical stress and somatoform disorders (F40–F49), 51 (22.2%) with disorders due to the use of psychoactive substances (F10–F19), 34 (14.8%) with high risk of suicide (X60–X84; Z91.5; R45.81). 27 percent of patients had comorbid diagnoses. The results show high internal consistency of the Beck scales in all samples. The discrimination abilities of all five Beck scales are good; the cutoffs for each Beck scale in four clinical groups are estimated. Both the total clinical sample and the 4 clinical sample groups had significantly higher BDI-II, BAI, BHS, BSS, and CBOCI scores than the normative sample. In conclusion, the Beck scales alone are not sufficient for making a decision about the clinical diagnosis.

Introduction. The spread of fake news on the internet is an increasingly serious problem. When analysing belief in fake news, people are usually treated as homogeneous group, however, previous studies suggest that different groups may exist. This study aims to identify clusters of older people according to their level of belief in real and fake news. Methods. 504 people aged 50 to 90 years (M=64.37, SD=9.10) participated in the study. Belief in true and false news was assessed using 10 news headlines (six false, four true). Respondents’ vaccination intentions and trust in democratic institutions were assessed. A cluster analysis was performed to distinguish between groups of respondents. Results. Four clusters were identified and replicated: moderately believing in fake and real news; believing in real but not in fake news; tending not to believe in either real or fake news; and tending to believe in both real and fake news. Individuals who fell into the cluster of believers in both real and fake news had lower intentions to vaccinate against COVID-19 and lower trust in political institutions. Conclusions. The study provides evidence that people aren’t homogeneous in their belief in fake and real news, and four meaningful clusters can be distinguished.

The goal of educational institutions (especially universities) is to foster critical thinking. However, with the rising popularity of social media and the rapid spread of unchecked information there, more and more people, especially young ones, are inclined to believe in conspiracy theories. This raises the question of whether university students are truly being taught critical thinking skills that would help combat misinformation. Therefore, this study attempts to analyze the interaction between education, critical thinking, and belief in conspiracy theories among young people (aged 25–30). The study involved 73 participants (M = 26.9; SD = 1.7). 36 have a university education (bachelor’s or master’s degree), 37 a nonuniversity education (secondary, secondary with professional qualification, or nonuniversity bachelor’s degree). Participants were provided with instruments to determine their level of belief in conspiracy theories and their critical thinking. The results show that critical thinking fully mediates the relationship between education and belief in conspiracy theories. Additionally, individuals with a university education have a higher level of critical thinking and are less likely to believe in conspiracy theories compared to those without a university education. Finally, a significant negative correlation was found between the critical thinking of young people and their belief in conspiracy theories.

Researchers observed that even if one’s environmental concern was high, people would delegate others to take responsibility for climate change mitigation and undertake sustainable actions. In this study, we explored how citizens of different countries in Central Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East perceived responsibility for mitigating and reducing climate change consequences of various collective and individual agents. Also, we asked about the role of cultural values, environmental worldviews and beliefs in the intractability of climate change in the prediction of the responsibility distribution. The total sample consisted of N = 1267 participants from Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. We created the list of 11 collective and individual entities as accountable for mitigation and sustainable activities. We used the Collindex scale to measure collectivistic and individualistic values, the NEP scale to measure anthropocentric and ecocentric worldviews, and two questions concerning the intractability beliefs. Results showed that participants attributed more responsibility to collective agents than to individuals across countries. The predictors’ patterns indicated that ecocentric worldviews consistently increased perceived responsibility of both collective and individual actors, whereas anthropocentrism reduced the attribution of collectives’ responsibility. Collectivistic values appeared to foster greater expectations of individuals. Also, differences between national samples were observed.