Alike but not the same: Psychological profiles of COVID-19 vaccine skeptics

IF 1.7 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

Health Psychology Open Pub Date : 2024-04-26 DOI:10.1177/20551029241248757

Ursula Voss, Karin Schermelleh-Engel, Leana Hauser, Mira Holzmann, Diana Fichtner, Sonja Seifert, Ansgar Klimke, Sabine Windmann

{"title":"Alike but not the same: Psychological profiles of COVID-19 vaccine skeptics","authors":"Ursula Voss, Karin Schermelleh-Engel, Leana Hauser, Mira Holzmann, Diana Fichtner, Sonja Seifert, Ansgar Klimke, Sabine Windmann","doi":"10.1177/20551029241248757","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"One of the challenges of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was a widespread skepticism about vaccination. To elucidate the underlying mental and emotional predispositions, we examined a sample of 1428 participants using latent profile analysis (LPA) on selected personality trait variables, mental health status, and measures of irrational beliefs. LPA revealed five distinct profiles: two classes of non-skeptics and three of skeptics. The smaller non-skeptic class reported the highest rates of mental health problems, along with high levels of neuroticism, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, and external locus of control. The larger non-skeptic class was psychologically well-balanced. Conversely, the skeptic groups shared strong distrust of COVID-19 vaccination but differed in emotional and mental profiles, leading to graded differences in endorsing extreme conspiracy beliefs. This suggests that vaccine skepticism is not solely a result of mental illness or emotional instability; rather extreme skepticism manifests as a nuanced, graded phenomenon contingent on personality traits and conspirational beliefs.","PeriodicalId":55856,"journal":{"name":"Health Psychology Open","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health Psychology Open","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20551029241248757","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

One of the challenges of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was a widespread skepticism about vaccination. To elucidate the underlying mental and emotional predispositions, we examined a sample of 1428 participants using latent profile analysis (LPA) on selected personality trait variables, mental health status, and measures of irrational beliefs. LPA revealed five distinct profiles: two classes of non-skeptics and three of skeptics. The smaller non-skeptic class reported the highest rates of mental health problems, along with high levels of neuroticism, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, and external locus of control. The larger non-skeptic class was psychologically well-balanced. Conversely, the skeptic groups shared strong distrust of COVID-19 vaccination but differed in emotional and mental profiles, leading to graded differences in endorsing extreme conspiracy beliefs. This suggests that vaccine skepticism is not solely a result of mental illness or emotional instability; rather extreme skepticism manifests as a nuanced, graded phenomenon contingent on personality traits and conspirational beliefs.

查看原文本刊更多论文

相似但不相同：COVID-19 疫苗怀疑论者的心理特征

SARS-CoV-2 大流行带来的挑战之一是人们对疫苗接种普遍持怀疑态度。为了阐明潜在的心理和情绪倾向，我们对 1428 名参与者进行了抽样调查，对选定的人格特质变量、心理健康状况和非理性信念进行了潜在特征分析（LPA）。LPA 揭示了五种不同的特征：两类非怀疑论者和三类怀疑论者。较小的非怀疑论者群体报告的心理健康问题发生率最高，同时他们的神经质、敌意、人际关系敏感性和外部控制感也较高。而人数较多的非怀疑论者群体则心理平衡。相反，怀疑论者群体对 COVID-19 疫苗接种抱有强烈的不信任感，但在情绪和心理特征方面存在差异，导致他们在认可极端阴谋论信念方面存在分级差异。这表明，疫苗怀疑论并不完全是精神疾病或情绪不稳定的结果；相反，极端怀疑论表现为一种细微的、分级的现象，取决于人格特质和阴谋信念。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Health Psychology Open Psychology-Clinical Psychology

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Psychology Open (HPO) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access, online-only journal providing rapid publication. HPO is dedicated to publishing cutting-edge research in health psychology from around the world. HPO seeks to provide a platform for both traditional empirical analyses and more qualitative and/or critically oriented approaches to health psychology. All areas of health psychology are covered, but these topics are of particular interest: Clinical health psychology Critical health psychology Community health psychology Health psychology practice Health psychology through a social, cultural or regional lens The journal particularly favours papers that focus on health psychology in practice, including submissions concerning community and/or clinical applications and interventions. Review articles are also welcomed. There is no fixed limit to the length of manuscripts, which is normally strictly limited in other journals, for example HPO’s sister journal, Journal of Health Psychology (JHP). Studies published in this journal are required to obtain ethical approval from an Institutional Review Board. Such approval must include informed, signed consent by all research participants. Any manuscript not containing an explicit statement concerning ethical approval and informed consent will not be considered.