(PS6-A12) Intent to Receive COVID-19 Vaccination Among College Students: Theory of Planned Behavior and Sociodemographic Predictors

Saturday, November 19, 2022

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST

Location: Westside Ballroom, 5th Floor

Author(s)

KD

Kelly Davis, M.A.

Doctoral candidate
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina

Co-Author(s)

LC

Lisa Curtin, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina
JH

Jacqueline Hersh, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina
JJ

John Paul Jameson, Ph.D.

Professor
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina

The COVID-19 pandemic created health and financial consequences across the world and vaccination is a key aspect to controlling the impact of the pandemic (World Health Organization, 2021). College campuses have been areas of high-transmission, and young adults report being at lesser risk of complications from COVID-19 than others (Tadese et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2020). Previous research has demonstrated sociodemographic differences in vaccine behavior including race (Viswanath et al., 2021), socioeconomic status (Budhwani, 2016), religiousness (Chu et al., 2021; Thomas et al., 2015), political affiliation (Friedman et al., 2021; Kannan & Veazie, 2018), and geographical location (Shacham et al., 2021). In addition, the Theory of Planned Behavior (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) has been used as a framework to understand vaccine behavior, and considers attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding a health decision intention or behavior (Xiao & Wong, 2020). To investigate college students’ intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,, a sample of college students (N = 159, 88.7% White, 71.6% Female) who had not received a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine was recruited from a public southeastern university. Those who consented to participate completed an online survey assessing sociodemographic variables, as well as attitudes toward the vaccine, perception of subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intent to receive the vaccine. Consistent with community-level surveys (Milligan et al., 2021), self-reported identification as religious (r = -.31, p < .001), and more politically conservative (r = .63, p < .001) correlated with lower intent to vaccinate. Regarding Theory of Planned Behavior variables, Attitudes (r = .84, p < .001), and Subjective Norms (r = .56, p < .001) significantly correlated with intent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, which is consistent with prior research regarding COVID-19 vaccine intent (Guidry et al., 2021). A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to predict intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine using the Theory of Planned Behavior variables after controlling for self-reported religiousness and political leaning. The final model accounted for 75% of the variance in intent to receive the vaccine (R²= .75, F(5, 143) = 85.2, p < .001) with political affiliation (β = .29) and attitudes towards vaccination (β = .62) as significant predictors. A better understanding of predictors of vaccination hesitancy among college students is important given the associated academic and mental health consequences for this group (Wang et al., 2020). University public health efforts could use these findings to promote vaccination to students that may be more vaccine hesitant. The study is limited by a cross-sectional design and limited sample demographic variability. Future studies should include more diverse samples, especially students of color, as research suggests their mental health has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Chirikov et al., 2020). Further research should routinely collect information regarding intent to vaccinate amongst college students, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change course and the individual and public health consequences remain.