The Psychology of COVID-19 Booster Hesitancy, Acceptance and Resistance in Australia.

COVID-19 booster vaccinations have been recommended as a primary line of defence against serious illness and hospitalisation. This study identifies and characterises distinct profiles of attitudes towards vaccination, particularly the willingness to get a booster dose. A sample of 582 adults from Australia completed an online survey capturing COVID-related behaviours, beliefs and attitudes and a range of sociodemographic, psychological, political, social and cultural variables. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) identified three subgroups: Acceptant (61%), Hesitant (30%) and Resistant (9%). Compared to the Acceptant group, the Hesitant and Resistant groups were less worried about catching COVID-19, used fewer official COVID-19 information sources, checked the news less, were lower on the agreeableness personality dimension and reported more conservatism, persecutory thinking, amoral attitudes and need for chaos. The Hesitant group also reported checking the legitimacy of information sources less, scored lower on the openness to new experiences personality dimension and were more likely than the Resistant and Acceptant groups to report regaining freedoms (e.g., travel) and work requirements or external pressures as reasons to get a booster. The Resistant group were higher on reactance, held more conspiratorial beliefs and rated their culture as being less tolerant of deviance than the Hesitant and Acceptant groups. This research can inform tailored approaches to increasing booster uptake and optimal strategies for public health messaging.

To comply or not comply? A latent profile analysis of behaviours and attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How and why do people comply with protective behaviours during COVID-19? The emerging literature employs a variable-centered approach, typically using a narrow selection of constructs within a study. This study is the first to adopt a person-centred approach to identify complex patterns of compliance, and holistically examine underlying psychological differences, integrating multiple psychology paradigms and epidemiology. 1575 participants from Australia, US, UK, and Canada indicated their behaviours, attitudes, personality, cognitive/decision-making ability, resilience, adaptability, coping, political and cultural factors, and information consumption during the pandemic's first wave. Using Latent Profile Analysis, two broad groups were identified. The compliant group (90%) reported greater worries, and perceived protective measures as effective, whilst the non-compliant group (about 10%) perceived them as problematic. The non-compliant group were lower on agreeableness and cultural tightness-looseness, but more extraverted, and reactant. They utilised more maladaptive coping strategies, checked/trusted the news less, and used official sources less. Females showed greater compliance than males. By promoting greater appreciation of the complexity of behaviour during COVID-19, this research provides a critical platform to inform future studies, public health policy, and targeted behaviour change interventions during pandemics. The results also challenge age-related stereotypes and assumptions.

An integrative process model of resilience in an academic context: Resilience resources, coping strategies, and positive adaptation.

Tertiary study presents students with a number of pressures and challenges. Thus, mental resilience plays a key role in students' well-being and performance. Resilience research has moved away from conceptualising resilience as a trait and towards studying resilience as a process by which resources protect against the negative impact of stressors to produce positive outcomes. However, there is a lack of research in the academic domain examining the mechanisms underlying this process. This study addressed this gap by examining a range of personal resilience resources and their interaction with coping responses to produce positive adaptation outcomes, in a sample of 306 undergraduate students. Firstly, individual differences in resilience were examined, whereby factor analysis resulted in self-report measures of resilience-related attributes converging onto an overarching factor. The extracted factor was then validated against markers of positive adaptation (mental well-being, university adjustment, and somatic health symptoms), and the mediating roles of coping strategies were investigated through structural equation modelling. The resilience resources factor directly predicted mental well-being and adjustment; and indirectly predicted adjustment and somatic health symptoms through support-seeking and avoidant coping, respectively. These findings have theoretical implications for how resilience is conceptualised, as well as practical implications for improving student well-being and adjustment through promoting social support and reducing disengaged and avoidant coping strategies.