Belief correlations with parental vaccine hesitancy: results from a national survey

Matthews, L.J.; Nowak, S.A.; Gidengil, C.; Chen, C.; Stubbersfield, J.; Tehrani, J.J.; Parker, A.M.

Abstract

We conducted a nationally representative survey of parents’ beliefs and self-reported behaviors regarding childhood vaccinations. Using Bayesian selection among multivariate models, we found that beliefs, even those without any vaccine or health content, predicted vaccine hesitant behaviors better than demographics, social network effects, or scientific reasoning. The multivariate structure of beliefs combined many types of ideation that included concerns about both conspiracies and side effects. Although they are not strongly related to vaccine hesitance behavior, demographics were key predictors of beliefs. Our findings suggest pro-vaccination messaging strategies previously proposed by anthropologists and others not previously considered.

Citation

Matthews, L., Nowak, S., Gidengil, C., Chen, C., Stubbersfield, J., Tehrani, J., & Parker, A. (2022). Belief correlations with parental vaccine hesitancy: results from a national survey. American Anthropologist, 124(2), 291-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13714

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 3, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 26, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Deposit Date: Oct 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 18, 2021
• Journal: American Anthropologist
• Print ISSN: 0002-7294
• Electronic ISSN: 1548-1433
• Publisher: American Anthropological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 124
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 291-306
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13714
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1226924