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

Abstract

We conducted a nationally representative survey of parents' beliefs and self-2 reported behaviors regarding childhood vaccinations. Using Bayesian selection among 3 multivariate models, we found that beliefs, even those without any vaccine or health content, 4 predicted vaccine hesitant behaviors better than demographics, social network effects, or 5 scientific reasoning. The multivariate structure of beliefs combined many types of ideation that 6 included concerns about both conspiracies and side effects. Although they are not strongly related 7 to vaccine hesitance behavior, demographics were key predictors of beliefs. Our findings suggest 8 pro-vaccination messaging strategies previously proposed by anthropologists and others not 9 previously considered. 10 11 12 24 2015; Teoh et al. 2019), the use of dramatic narratives and/or graphic images of vaccine-25 preventable diseases may have no effect (Teoh et al. 2019) or may backfire by reinforcing already 26 entrenched concerns about vaccine safety (Opel et al. 2019; Nyhan et al. 2014). These findings 27 should lead us to question the root origins of vaccine hesitancy. Does it arise fromPage 1 of 43 American Anthropologist understandings/misunderstandings of science, from dis/trust of the medical establishment or 29 government, historically rooted experiences of oppression, outright viral misinformation? It is 30 easy, absent considering empirical data, to postulate many such seemingly plausible single-cause 31 explanations. 32 From a research process standpoint, these null and backfire findings suggest the public 33 health community may have moved too quickly to experimental techniques that can establish 34 causal inference without observational research needed to induce (rather than deduce) data-driven 35 hypotheses about how beliefs and experiences surround vaccination behaviors. Perspectives from 36 social science might help inform vaccination policy by bringing stronger theory and/or broader 37 empirical findings from studies that focus on observational rather than experimental research 38 methods. Findings from these studies, however, vary dramatically by academic discipline. 39 Upon reviewing the social science literature on vaccine hesitance, it becomes clear that 40 although socio-cultural anthropology and psychology have both investigated the phenomenon, 41 they have arrived at radically different explanations for it. Anthropological studies have 42 emphasized multiple dimensions of parental concerns, understandings, and confidences that 43 encompass relative trust and distrust of medical systems, sources of information, and parent's 44 tendencies to accept social norms. In a manner typical of anthropologists, these studies have 45 employed diverse and mostly qualitative methods tailored to each study context (Leach and 46

Individual Differences in Resistance to Truth Decay: Exploring the Role of Reasoning and Cognitive Biases

“…We can further investigate these patterns using the items about expert recommendations (Table 5.9). Examining the question about accepting expert recommendations from medical doctors individually, we see the most commonly measured pattern in the literature: Black respondents were less accepting of recommendations by the medical establishment than were White respondents (matching findings by, for example, Westergaard et al, 2014;Bogart et al, 2021;and Matthews et al, 2022). However, we also see that fewer White Republican respondents than White Democratic respondents said that they would accept recommendations from medical doctors.…”

“…Prior studies have shown that, compared with White Americans, Black Americans have a tendency toward less acceptance of expert recommendations and more endorsement of related ideas, such as conspiracy theories (Uscinski and Parent, 2014;Westergaard et al, 2014;Bogart et al, 2021;Matthews et al, 2022). This has been most evaluated, however, specifically in the context of acceptance of recommendations by medical experts.…”

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“…2019; Lewandowsky, Gignac, and Oberauer 2013; Matthews et al. 2022; Nowak et al. 2020), which we processed through an unrotated principal component analysis in the same manner as we did independently for the magical thinking items.…”

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