Vaccination conspiracy beliefs among social science & humanities and STEM educated people - an analysis of the mediation paths

Pavić, Željko and Šuljok, Adrijana (2022) Vaccination conspiracy beliefs among social science & humanities and STEM educated people - an analysis of the mediation paths. PLoS ONE, 17 (3). pp. 1-17. ISSN 1932-6203

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264722

Abstract

IN ENGLISH: Understanding vaccine hesitancy is becoming increasingly important, especially after the global outbreak of COVID-19. The main goal of this study was to explore the differences in vaccination conspiracy beliefs between people with a university degree coming from different scientific fields—Social Sciences & Humanities (SH) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The study was conducted on an online convenience sample of respondents with college and university degrees in Croatia (N = 577). The results revealed that respondents educated in SH proved to be more prone to vaccination conspiracy beliefs. The indirect effect through science literacy was confirmed, while this was not the case for the indirect effects through health beliefs (natural immunity beliefs) and trust in the healthcare system. However, all three variables were important direct predictors of vaccination conspiracy beliefs. Female gender and religiosity were positively correlated with vaccination conspiracy beliefs, while age was not a statistically significant predictor. The authors concluded by emphasizing the necessity of the more theoretically elaborated approaches to the study of the educational and other socio-demographic differences in vaccine hesitancy. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Razumijevanje oklijevanja pri cijepljenju postaje sve važnije, osobito nakon izbijanja COVID-19 pandemije. Glavni cilj ove studije bio je istražiti razlike u konspiracijskim uvjerenjima o cijepljenju između osoba obrazovanih u različitim znanstvenim područjima – društveno-humanističkim znanosti (DH) te STEM znanostima. Istraživanje je provedeno na prigodnom online uzorku ispitanika s višom i visokom stručnom spremom u Hrvatskoj (N = 577). Rezultati su otkrili da su ispitanici obrazovani u DH znanostima skloniji konspiracijskim uvjerenjima o cijepljenju. Potvrđen je neizravni učinak znanstvene pismenosti, dok to nije bio slučaj za neizravne učinke zdravstvenog uvjerenja (uvjerenja o prirodnom imunitetu) i povjerenja u zdravstveni sustav. Međutim, sve tri varijable bile su važni izravni prediktori konspiracijskih uvjerenja o cijepljenju. Spol (žene) i religioznost bili su u pozitivnoj korelaciji s konspiracijskim uvjerenjima o cijepljenju, dok dob nije bila statistički značajan prediktor. Autori zaključuju naglašavajući važnost razvijanja teorijski razrađenijih pristupa proučavanju obrazovnih i drugih sociodemografskih razlika u oklijevanju pri cijepljenju.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Language: English. - Title in Croatian: Konspiracijska uvjerenja o cijepljenju među ljudima obrazovanim u društveno-humanističkom i STEM području – analiza medijacijskih puteva. - Article number: e0264722.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Vaccination, vaccination conspiracy beliefs, scientific literacy, mediation analysis (cijepljenje, konspiracijska uvjerenja o cijepljenju, znanstvena pismenost, medijacijska analiza)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Depositing User: Karolina
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2022 05:17
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2022 13:40
URI: http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/983

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