QAnon casualties: Conspiracy theory’s devastating impact highlighted in new research

Recent research provides insight into how belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory can strain interpersonal relationships. The qualitative study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, reveals how followers’ deep entrenchment in QAnon can alienate their loved ones, leading to reduced communication and often the breakdown of relationships.

QAnon emerged in late 2017 and quickly gained attention for its extensive, if not outlandish, set of beliefs. Central to QAnon is the notion that a secretive government insider known as “Q” is revealing vital secrets about a supposed global cabal of satanic pedophiles that includes prominent liberal figures and that former President Donald Trump is waging a clandestine war against these forces.

The belief system not only demonizes perceived enemies but also encourages followers to decipher cryptic online postings to unveil supposed truths. This shared mission fosters a strong sense of community among followers, who use slogans like “Where we go one, we go all” to promote unity and resilience against opposing views.

The new study was motivated by the surprising prevalence of QAnon beliefs and their potential to strain interpersonal relationships, as evidenced by anecdotal reports and growing membership in online support groups like /r/QAnonCasualties. Given the radical and polarizing nature of QAnon, the researchers aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how these beliefs impact relationships.

“I have been a long-time reader of the r/QAnonCasualties subreddit. I found it both fascinating and heartbreaking to read the stories people shared there,” explained study author Lauren Mastroni of the University of Derby. “When I started my master’s degree I knew I wanted to write a paper on QAnon’s impact on relationships. Then, when I started doing background research I was surprised to find that there was a dearth of research on the topic, which made me even more motivated to do this study.”

The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 participants from the r/QAnonCasualties subreddit, which included 10 females, four males, and one nonbinary individual, aged between 21 to 54 years from five different countries (the United States, Australia, Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands).

Participants were asked a series of open-ended questions designed to elicit detailed accounts of how their loved one’s belief in QAnon affected their personal relationships. The questions covered topics such as changes in the relationship dynamic, emotional responses to their loved one’s beliefs, and strategies employed to manage or resolve conflicts arising from these beliefs. The interviews were recorded and transcribed.

The analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted using thematic analysis, a method that involves identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns or themes within qualitative data. This approach was inductive, meaning the themes were strongly linked to the data itself without trying to fit it into a pre-existing coding frame.

The researchers identified four primary themes that encapsulate the effects of QAnon on relationships: Malignant Q, Distance, Conflict, and Attempts at Healing.

Malignant Q was a theme that described the transformation of participants’ loved ones into individuals with radical and extremist beliefs. Participants reported a profound change in the behavior and ideology of their QAnon-affiliated loved ones, noting an increase in anger, paranoia, and intolerance. This radicalization often led to expressions of xenophobic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic sentiments, which participants found shocking and deeply disturbing.

“It’s mindblowing to hear what she says and really believes,” one participant remarked.

Loved ones were perceived as becoming consumed by the conspiracy, affecting their personality and worsening their social interactions. This theme highlighted the deep emotional impact on participants, who struggled with the realization that someone they cared about had adopted such extreme views.

Distance emerged as another significant theme, illustrating how QAnon beliefs led to both emotional and physical separation between participants and their loved ones. Communication breakdown was common, with participants often choosing to avoid conversations to escape conflicts or feeling unable to engage in meaningful dialogue due to the pervasive nature of QAnon rhetoric. The strain was exacerbated by a sense of loss over the closeness they once shared, with many relationships becoming superficial or strained to the point of minimal contact.

The theme of Conflict encapsulated the direct confrontations and disagreements sparked by the entrenched QAnon beliefs. Participants described frequent arguments that were not only stressful but often fruitless, leading to cycles of defense and accusation.

Loved ones entrenched in QAnon displayed extreme defensiveness when faced with opposing views, rejecting any information that contradicted their beliefs. This defensiveness was often accompanied by a dismissal of credible sources and an adherence to conspiracy narratives, making rational discussion nearly impossible and emotionally taxing for participants.

Attempts at Healing reflected the efforts made by participants to salvage their relationships. Despite the challenges, many held a strong desire to understand and reconnect with their loved ones. Strategies varied from engaging in deep conversations to trying to debunk QAnon claims gently, or setting boundaries about discussion topics.

However, the effectiveness of these strategies was mixed, with some participants finding temporary success in avoiding sensitive topics, while others ultimately resigned to the deterioration or end of the relationship. As one participant explained: “QAnon is like drug addiction, and, you know the whole cliche, the first step is them admitting they have a problem and then you can do the deprogramming and all that. But until they recognize they need help you can’t do a damn thing.”

Overall, the study’s findings highlighted the pervasive and often destructive impact of QAnon on personal relationships. The conspiracy theory not only influenced the believers’ perceptions and behaviors but also had profound emotional and relational consequences for those close to them.

“While additional quantitative research is necessary to determine the scale of QAnon’s impact on relationships, this study has highlighted how deeply QAnon belief can harm relationships,” Mastroni told PsyPost. “Participants found that their QAnon-believing loved ones often act on their beliefs in ways that damage their relationships, either by proselytizing, arguing, saying things that aren’t grounded in reality, or spouting increasingly hateful rhetoric.”

“Participants were highly motivated to understand their loved ones and tried many different strategies to heal their relationships, with varying degrees of success. I believe that QAnon is unprecedented in its impact on relationships compared to other, more benign (for lack of a better term) conspiracy beliefs and that further research into possible interventions to repair these damaged relationships is badly needed.”

Many participants reported being blindsided because their loved ones’ embrace of QAnon emerged without a clear link to their prior political stances.

“I was surprised that roughly half of participants said that their loved one was either more left-wing, less political, or apolitical before adopting QAnon beliefs,” Mastroni explained. “I thought that for most, their loved ones’ beliefs would have been a natural progression or continuation of previously-held beliefs, but that wasn’t the case for many participants. The fact that some participants’ loved ones started believing in QAnon seemingly out of nowhere certainly added to the shock these participants felt at their loved ones’ radicalization.”

While the study provides valuable insights, it is based on a small sample drawn from a single online community, possibly limiting the scope. Further research could expand on this by quantitatively measuring the prevalence of QAnon-related relationship issues or comparing its impact to other conspiracy beliefs.

“This is a qualitative study and therefore not generalizable,” Mastroni noted. “While this study aimed to highlight the existence of this phenomenon and explore QAnon’s impact on close relationships, more quantitative research is needed to measure the scale of the issue. I would like to see (and possibly conduct) further research into what interventions may be effective for repairing relationships damaged by QAnon.”

The study, ““I one-hundred thousand percent blame it on QAnon”: The impact of QAnon belief on interpersonal relationships,” was authored by Lauren Mastroni and Robyn Mooney.