ABSTRACT
Previous studies have shown that self-affirmation increases acceptance of a message and motivates health behavior change. The present study investigated whether self-affirmation increases the acceptance of persuasive messages on COVID-19 vaccines and promotes vaccination intention. A total of 144 participants were randomly assigned to the self-affirmation (n = 72) or control (n = 72) groups before reading a persuasive message on COVID-19 vaccines. The results revealed that the self-affirmation group showed significantly higher acceptance of persuasive information on COVID-19 vaccines than the control group. Additionally, the self-affirmation group also showed significantly higher post-experiment vaccination intention than the control group. Mediation analysis indicated that increased acceptance of persuasive information significantly mediated the beneficial effects of self-affirmation on post-experiment vaccination intention. The present study demonstrated that self-affirmation could be an effective strategy for increasing the acceptance of persuasive messages on COVID-19 vaccines and promoting vaccination intention.