Personality and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: A quantitative study

ABSTRACT

Despite rigorous communication and education programs, hesitancy rates for the COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. remain relatively unchanged at 20-25% (Kaiser Family Foundation, September 2022). Increasing the vaccination uptake to prevent further spread of the disease requires a better understanding of underlying psychological reasons for vaccine hesitancy. This study examines whether any Big Five personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional stability) could statistically significantly predict group membership into one of four vaccination status groups of adults living in the U.S. The four vaccination groups were (Group 1) did not have the COVID-19 vaccine and will not in the future;(Group 2) did not have the vaccine but may in the future;(Group 3) had the vaccine but did not intend to have another COVID vaccine in the future, and (Group 4) had the vaccine and intended on getting future vaccinations as appropriate. Discriminant analysis was used as a statistical test to predict group membership into one of the four vaccination groups from the mean scores of a brief personality inventory. Adult participants from across the country were recruited using CloudResearch Managed Survey (N = 119) using a survey uploaded from Qualtrics. The respondents took a brief online psychological assessment, the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) (Gosling, 2003), and were asked about their current vaccine status and future intention to vaccinate. Demographic questions regarding political affiliation and religiosity were also included to understand the population better and add value to the analysis. This study did not support the hypothesis that personality type, measured by the TIPI, would statistically significantly predict membership into vaccine status/ intention groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)