Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Vaccination is considered a prosocial behavior, protecting both the individual and society at large. However, many Americans choose to remain unvaccinated for multiple reasons relating mainly to religious and personal autonomy. To assess individual readiness for COVID-19 vaccination, this quantitative study includes a survey of a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States (n = 992) to explore willingness to engage in vaccination as a prosocial behavior. This study operationalizes prosocial behavior using the indicators empathic concern, monetary donations, and volunteering as predictors. Using ordinal and logistic regression models, the findings indicate that individual prosocial behavior is positively associated with vaccination and vaccination intent. Further, findings show that COVID-19 vaccination is positively correlated with the demographics of age, income, and education level, demonstrating that older adults (over 65), individuals with higher incomes, and the college-educated have higher vaccination intent. Vaccination intent was found to be the highest among African-Americans who were twice as likely to be vaccinated, and lowest among female participants.

Keywords

COVID-19 vaccination vaccine prosocial behavior empathy donation volunteering

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aguirre

B. E.

Torres

M. R.

Gill

K. B.

Lawrence Hotchkiss

(2011). Normative collective behavior in the station building fire. Social Science Quarterly, 92(1), 100–118.

Ahmad

F. B.

(2024). Mortality in the United States—provisional data, 2023. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 73(31), 677–681.

Algoe

S. B.

Haidt

(2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 105–127.

Alvarez

van Leeuwen

Montenegro-Montenegro

van Vugt

(2018). Empowering the poor: A field study of the social psychological consequences of receiving autonomy or dependency aid in Panama. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(2), 327–345.

Alves

Saad

(2024). The futility of being selfish in vaccine distribution. Journal of Physics: Complexity, 5(3), 035006.

Amin

A. B.

Bednarczyk

R. A.

Ray

C. E.

Melchiori

K. J.

Graham

Huntsinger

J. R.

Omer

S. B.

(2017). Association of moral values with vaccine hesitancy. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(12), 873–880.

Anderson

R. M.

Heesterbeek

Klinkenberg

Hollingsworth

T. D.

(2020). How will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the COVID-19 epidemic? The Lancet, 395(10228), 931–934.

Aquino

McFerran

Laven

(2011). Moral identity and the experience of moral elevation in response to acts of uncommon goodness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4), 703.

Barello

Nania

Dellafiore

Graffigna

Caruso

(2020). “Vaccine hesitancy” among university students in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Epidemiology, 35(8), 781–783.

10.

Barrett

D. W.

Wosinska

Butner

Petrova

Gornik-Durose

Cialdini

R. B.

(2004). Individual differences in the motivation to comply across cultures: The impact of social obligation. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(1), 19–31.

11.

Batson

C. D.

Powell

A. A.

(2003). Altruism and prosocial behavior. In Millon

Lerner

M. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 463–484). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

12.

Bavel

J. J. V.

Baicker

Boggio

P. S.

Capraro

Cichocka

Cikara

Crockett

M. J.

Crum

A. J.

Douglas

K. M.

Druckman

J. N.

Drury

Dube

Ellemers

Finkel

E. J.

Fowler

J. H.

Gelfand

Han

Haslam

S. A.

Jetten

, . . . Willer

(2020). Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behavior, 4, 460–471.

13.

Betsch

Böhm

Chapman

G. B.

(2015). Using behavioral insights to increase vaccination policy effectiveness. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2(1), 61–73.

14.

Bin-Nashwan

S. A.

Al-Daihani

Abdul-Jabbar

Al-Ttaffi

L. H. A.

(2022). Social solidarity amid the COVID-19 outbreak: Fundraising campaigns and donors’ attitudes. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 42(3/4), 232–247.

15.

Blasi

(2004). Moral functioning: Moral understanding and personality. In Lapsley

Narvaez

(Eds.), Moral development, self, and identity (pp. 335–347). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

16.

Bogart

L. M.

Wagner

Galvan

F. H.

Banks

(2010). Conspiracy beliefs about HIV are related to antiretroviral treatment nonadherence among African-American men with HIV. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 53(5), 648–655.

17.

Böhm

Betsch

(2022). Prosocial vaccination. Current Opinion in Psychology, 43, 307–311.

18.

Böhm

Meier

N. W.

Groß

Korn

Betsch

(2019). The willingness to vaccinate increases when vaccination protects others who have low responsibility for not being vaccinated. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(3), 381–391.

19.

Booysen

Guvuriro

Campher

(2021). Horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism and preferences for altruism: A social discounting study. Personality and Individual Differences, 178, 110856.

20.

Brewer

N. T.

Chapman

G. B.

Rothman

A. J.

Leask

Kempe

(2017). Increasing vaccination: Putting psychological science into action. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 18(3), 149–207.

21.

Byrne

M. H.

Ashcroft

Wan

J. C.

Alexander

Harvey

Arora

Schindler

Brown

M. E.

Brassett

(2023). Examining medical student volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic as a prosocial behavior during an emergency. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 99(1174), 883–893.

22.

Callender

(2016). Vaccine hesitancy: More than a movement. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutic, 12(9), 2464–2468.

23.

Canevello

Jiang

Magid

Perry

Crocker

(2023). Prosocial orientation and COVID-19 vaccine willingness in the US. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17, e12809.

24.

Cao

Ramirez

C. M.

Alvarez

R. M.

(2022). The politics of vaccine hesitancy in the United States. Social Science Quarterly, 103(1), 42–54.

25.

Caprara

G. V.

Pastorelli

(1993). Early emotional instability, prosocial behaviour, and aggression: Some methodological aspects. European Journal of Personality, 7(1), 19–36.

26.

Caprara

G. V.

Steca

Zelli

Capanna

(2005). A new scale for measuring adults’ prosocialness. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21(2), 77–89.

27.

Carlo

(2005). Care-based and altruistically-based morality. In Killen

Smetana

J. G.

(Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 551–579). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

28.

Carlo

Randall

B. A.

(2002). The development of a measure of prosocial behaviors for late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31(1), 31–44.

29.

Carlson

R. W.

Zaki

(2022). Belief in altruistic motives predicts prosocial actions and inferences. Psychological Reports, 125(4), 2191–2212.

30.

Carroll

D. A.

Larson

S. E.

(2022). Does service provider matter during a pandemic? COVID-19 cases and deaths among nonprofit vs. for-profit assisted living facilities in Florida. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 44(4), 274–301.

31.

Cato

Iida

Ishida

Ito

McElwain

K. M.

Shoji

(2020). Social distancing as a public good under the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health, 188, 51–53.

32.

Chen

Shi

Chen

Zhao

K. H.

Huang

(2022). A systematic investigation of American vaccination preference via historical data. Processes, 10(8), 1665.

33.

Conard

P. L.

Parnell

Julian

Keller

M. J.

Armstrong

M. L.

(2022). Experiencing COVID-19 through the eyes of homeless military veterans: A qualitative study. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, 45(3), 201–219.

34.

Das

Rahman

(2011). Application of ordinal logistic regression analysis in determining risk factors of child malnutrition in Bangladesh. Nutrition Journal, 10, 1–11.

35.

Davis

M. H.

(1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10, 85.

36.

Decety

Bartal

I. B.-A.

Uzefovsky

Knafo-Noam

(2016). Empathy as a driver of prosocial behaviour: Highly conserved neurobehavioral mechanisms across species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1686), 20150077.

37.

Delporte

Luyts

Molenberghs

Verbeke

Demarest

Hoorens

(2023). Do optimism and moralization predict vaccination? A 5-Wave longitudinal study. Health Psychology, 42(8), 603.

38.

Deng

J. S.

Chen

J. Y.

Lin

X. Q.

Huang

C. L.

Tung

T. H.

Zhu

J. S.

(2023). Parental hesitancy against COVID-19 vaccination for children and associated factors in Taiwan. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 571.

39.

Dolman

A. J.

Fraser

Panagopoulos

Aldrich

D. P.

Kim

(2023). Opposing views: Associations of political polarization, political party affiliation, and social trust with COVID-19 vaccination intent and receipt. Journal of Public Health, 45(1), 36–39.

40.

Dovidio

J. F.

Piliavin

J. A.

Schroeder

D. A.

Penner

L. A.

(2006). The social psychology of prosocial behavior (pp. 210–213). Psychology Press.

41.

Dunn

E. W.

Aknin

L. B.

Norton

M. I.

(2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687–1688.

42.

Einolf

Chambré

S. M.

(2008). Is volunteering work, prosocial behavior or leisure? An empirical study. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 16, 298–310.

43.

Ellsworth

P. C.

Smith

C. A.

(1988). From appraisal to emotion: Differences among unpleasant feelings. Motivation and Emotion, 12(3), 271–302.

44.

Erlandsson

Västfjäll

Tinghög

Nilsson

(2018). Donations to outgroup- charities, but not ingroup-charities, predict helping intentions towards street-beggars in Sweden. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(4), 814–838.

45.

Exley

C. L.

(2016). Excusing selfishness in charitable giving: The role of risk. The Review of Economic Studies, 83(2), 587–628.

46.

Feder

Swartz

(2021). Time for a change: The COVID-19 nursing home disaster and the urgency of LTSS reform. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 44(3), 195–219.

47.

Fisk

R. J.

(2021). Barriers to vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) control: Experience from the United States. Global Health Journal, 5(1), 51–55.

48.

Gao

Raza

S. H.

Yousaf

Shah

A. A.

Hussain

Malik

(2023). How does digital media search for COVID-19 influence vaccine hesitancy? Exploring the trade-off between google trends, infodemics, conspiracy beliefs and religious fatalism. Vaccines, 11(1), 114.

49.

Gerend

M. A.

Shepherd

J. E.

(2011). Correlates of HPV knowledge in the era of HPV vaccination: A study of unvaccinated young adult women. Women & Health, 51(1), 25–40.

50.

Gilbert

(2009). Introducing compassion-focused therapy. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 15(3), 199–208.

51.

Giubilini

Minerva

Schuklenk

Savulescu

(2021). The ‘ethical’ covid-19 vaccine is the one that preserves lives: Religious and moral beliefs on the COVID-19 vaccine. Public Health Ethics, 14(3), 242–255.

52.

Graeber

Schmidt-Petri

Schröder

(2021). Attitudes on voluntary and mandatory vaccination against COVID-19: Evidence from Germany. PloS One, 16(5), e0248372.

53.

Grimalda

Buchan

N. R.

Ozturk

O. D.

Pinate

A. C.

Urso

Brewer

M. B.

(2021). Exposure to COVID-19 is associated with increased altruism, particularly at the local level. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1–14.

54.

Guldin

Noga-Styron

Britto

(2021). Media consumption and news literacy habits during the covid-19 pandemic. The International Journal of Critical Media Literacy, 3(1), 43–71.

55.

Hahne

(2013). Vaccination decisions: Selfish, selfless, or both? Marketing to mixed motives. Yale Scientific.

56.

Hardy

S. A.

(2006). Identity, reasoning, and emotion: An empirical comparison of three sources of moral motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 205–213.

57.

Harrell

(2012). Do religious cognitions promote prosociality? Rationality and Society, 24(4), 463–82.

58.

Hauser

D. J.

Meier

B. P.

(2023). Unvaxxed and unafraid: Unvaccinated Americans perceive less disease risk than do vaccinated Americans. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 17(7), e12749.

59.

Hawley

P. H.

(2014). Evolution, prosocial behavior, and altruism: A roadmap for understanding where the proximate meets the ultimate. In Padilla-Walker

L. M.

Carlo

(Eds.), Prosocial development: A multidimensional approach. Oxford Academic.

60.

Heintzelman

C. A.

(2015, September 28). The Tuskegee syphilis study and its implications for the 21st century. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/The_Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study_and_Its_Implications_for_the_21st_Century/

61.

Hellmann

D. M.

Dorrough

A. R.

Glöckner

(2021). Prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The role of responsibility and vulnerability. Heliyon, 7(9), e08041.

62.

Hornsey

M. J.

Harris

E. A.

Fielding

K. S.

(2018). The psychological roots of anti-vaccination attitudes: A 24-nation investigation. Health Psychology, 37(4), 307.

63.

Imhoff

Lamberty

(2020). A bioweapon or a hoax? The link between distinct conspiracy beliefs about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and pandemic behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(8), 1110–1118.

64.

Jetten

Reicher

Haslam

Cruwys

(2020). A social identity analysis of COVID-19. Together apart. In: A. Maher (Ed), The psychology of COVID-19 (pp. 20–31). Sage Publications.

65.

Jiang

Garris

C. P.

Aldamer

(2018). Individualism behind collectivism: A reflection from Saudi volunteers. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 29(1), 144–159.

66.

Kennedy

LaVail

Nowak

Basket

Landry

(2011). Confidence about vaccines in the United States: Understanding parents’ perceptions. Health Affairs, 30(6), 1151–1159.

67.

Kennedy

(2020). Vaccine hesitancy: A growing concern. Pediatric Drugs, 22(2), 105–111.

68.

Kerr

Panagopoulos

Van Der Linden

(2021). Political polarization on COVID-19 pandemic response in the United States. Personality and Individual Differences, 179, 110892.

69.

Kesgin

Can

A. S.

Gursoy

Ekinci

Aldawodi

(2022). Effects of religiosity and travel desire on COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(23), 3888–3904.

70.

Khan

M. S. R.

Watanapongvanich

Kadoya

(2021). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the younger generation in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11702.

71.

Klimecki

O. M.

Mayer

S. V.

Jusyte

Scheeff

Schönenberg

(2016). Empathy promotes altruistic behavior in economic interactions. Scientific Reports, 6, 31961.

72.

Kong

Jiang

Liu

Guo

(2022). The uptake and vaccination willingness of COVID-19 vaccine among Chinese residents: Web-based online cross-sectional study. Vaccines, 10(1), 90.

73.

Korn

Böhm

Meier

N. W.

Betsch

(2020). Vaccination as a social contract. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(26), 14890–14899.

74.

Lai

Wang

(2023). Attribution of community emergency volunteer behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of community residents in Shanghai, China. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 34(2), 239–251.

75.

Lam

C. M.

(2012). Prosocial involvement as a positive youth development construct: A conceptual review. The Scientific World Journal, 2012, 769158.

76.

Larson

H. J.

(2018). Politics and public trust shape vaccine risk perceptions. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(5), 316–316.

77.

Latkin

C. A.

Dayton

Moran

Strickland

J. C.

Collins

(2022). Behavioral and psychosocial factors associated with COVID-19 skepticism in the United States. Current Psychology, 41(11), 7918–7926.

78.

Levin

J. M.

Bukowski

L. A.

Minson

J. A.

Kahn

J. M.

(2023). The political polarization of COVID-19 treatments among physicians and laypeople in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(7), e2216179120.

79.

Taylor

E. G.

Atkins

K. E.

Chapman

G. B.

Galvani

A. P.

(2016). Stimulating influenza vaccination via prosocial motives. PloS One, 11(7), e0159780.

80.

Luningham

J. M.

Akpan

I. N.

Taskin

Alkhatib

Vishwanatha

J. K.

Thompson

E. L.

(2023). Demographic and psychosocial correlates of COVID-19 vaccination status among a statewide sample in Texas. Vaccines, 11(4), 848.

81.

McCrea

S. M.

Thürmer

J. L.

Helm

M. R.

Erion

C. J.

Krueger

(2023). Respecting conversational norms improves reception of expert messages among unvaccinated individuals. Health Communication, 39(9), 1795–1806.

82.

Miller

J. D.

Ackerman

M. S.

Laspra

Polino

Huffaker

J. S.

(2022). Public attitude toward Covid-19 vaccination: The influence of education, partisanship, biological literacy, and coronavirus understanding. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal, 36(7), e22382.

83.

Mohd Jenol

N. A.

Ahmad Pazil

N. H

. (2023). Halal or haram? The COVID-19 vaccine discussion among twitter users in Malaysia. Journal of Religion and Health, 62, 2933–2946.

84.

Monte

(2021, December 28). Household pulse survey shows many don’t trust COVID vaccine, worry about side effects. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/who-are-the-adults-not-vaccinated-against-covid.html

85.

Moore

P. L.

(2024). The impact of COVID-19 on diverse communities during the pandemic: A case for culturally competent intervention strategies. Journal of Health and Human Services, 47(1–2), 6–22.

86.

Neumann-Böhme

Varghese

N. E.

Sabat

Barros

P. P.

Brouwer

van Exel

Schreyögg

Stargardt

(2020). Once we have it, will we use it? A European survey on willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The European Journal of Health Economics, 21(7), 977–982.

87.

Neumayr

Handy

(2019). Charitable giving: What influences donors’ choice among different causes? Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 30(4), 783–799.

88.

Nga

N. T. V.

Xuan

V. N.

Trong

V. A.

Thao

P. H.

Doanh

D. C.

(2023). Perceived barriers and intentions to receive COVID-19 vaccines: Psychological distress as a moderator. Vaccines, 11(2), 289.

89.

Nguyen

C. G.

Mayer

S. J.

Veit

(2022). The impact of emotions on polarization. Anger polarizes attitudes towards vaccine mandates and increases affective polarization. Research & Politics, 9(3), 20531680221116571.

90.

Noor

Wasif

Siddiqui

Khan

(2021). Racialized minorities, trust, and crisis: Muslim-American nonprofits, their leadership and government relations during COVID-19. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 32(3), 341–364.

91.

Norenzayan

Shariff

A. F.

(2008). The origin and evolution of religious prosociality. Science, 322(5898), 58–62.

92.

Ntontis

Rocha

(2020). Solidarity. Together apart: The psychology of COVID-19. Sage.

93.

Nyhan

Reifler

Richey

Freed

G. L.

(2014). Effective messages in vaccine promotion: A randomized trial. Pediatrics, 133(4), e835–e842.

94.

Oleksy

Wnuk

Gambin

Łyś

Bargiel-Matusiewicz

Pisula

(2022). Barriers and facilitators of willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19: Role of prosociality, authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality. A four-wave longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences, 190, 111524.

95.

Padamsee

T. J.

Bond

R. M.

Dixon

G. N.

Hovick

S. R.

Nisbet

E. C.

Wegener

D. T.

Garrett

R. K.

(2022). Changes in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black and White individuals in the US. JAMA Network Open, 5(1), e2144470.

96.

Pakalniškienė

Kairys

Jurkuvėnas

Mikuličiūtė

Ivleva

(2022). Could belief in fake news predict vaccination behavior in the elderly? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(22), 14901.

97.

Pfattheicher

Nielsen

Y. A.

Thielmann

(2022). Prosocial behavior and altruism: A review of concepts and definitions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 124–129.

98.

Pfattheicher

Petersen

M. B.

Böhm

(2022). Information about herd immunity and empathy promote COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Health Psychology, 41(2), 85.

99.

Plotkin

S. A.

Offit

P. A.

DeStefano

Larson

H. J.

Arora

N. K.

Zuber

P. L. F.

Fombonne

Sejvar

Lambert

P. H.

Hviid

Halsey

Garçon

Peden

Pollard

A. J.

Markowitz

L. E.

Glanz

(2020). The science of vaccine safety: Summary of meeting at Wellcome Trust. Vaccine, 38(8), 1869–1880.

100.

Polonijo

A. N.

Vogelsang

E. M.

(2023). Sexual orientation and gender identity differences in influenza, shingles, and pneumococcal vaccination among US older adults. LGBT Health, 10(2), 138–147.

101.

Pouliasi

I. I.

Hadjikou

Kouvari

Heraclides

(2023). Socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and uptake in Greece and Cyprus during the pandemic. Vaccines, 11(8), 1301.

102.

Preston

J. L.

Salomon

Ritter

R. S.

(2013). Religious prosociality. In Saroglou

(Ed.), Religion, personality, and social behavior (pp. 149–169). Psychology Press.

103.

Ramaekers

M. J.

Verbakel

Kraaykamp

(2022). Informal volunteering and socialization effects: Examining modelling and encouragement by parents and partner. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33, 347–361.

104.

Reddinger

J. L.

Charness

Levine

(2022). Prosocial motivation for vaccination. medRxiv, 2022-04.

105.

Riedel

(2005). Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination. In Baylor University medical center proceedings (Vol. 18, pp. 21–25). Taylor & Francis.

106.

Rosman

Adler

Barbian

Blume

Burczeck

Cordes

Derman

Dertli

Glas

Heinen

Kenst

Khosroschahli

Kittel

Kraus

Linden

Mironova

Olinger

Rastelica

Sauter

Schnurr

Schwab

Vieyra

Zidak

Zidarova

(2021). Protect ya Grandma! The effects of students’ epistemic beliefs and prosocial values on COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 683987.

107.

Rothstein

M. A.

Parmet

W. E.

Reiss

D. R.

(2021). Employer-mandated vaccination for COVID-19. American Journal of Public Health, 111(6), e1–e4.

108.

Santella

A. J.

Bosley

Carillo

Fraticelli

Muder

S. J.

(2021). “I wanted to be part of the solution”: Motivations, preparation, and mental health of COVID-19 contact tracers in the New York metropolitan area. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 44(3), 219–244.

109.

Saroglou

Pichon

Trompette

Verschueren

Dernelle

(2005). Prosocial behavior and religion: New evidence based on projective measures and peer ratings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44(3), 323–348.

110.

Scapaletti

D. J.

(2011). Psychology of empathy. Nova Science Publishers, Cop.

111.

Schott

Neumann

Bärtschi

Ritz

(2016, August). Public service motivation, prosocial motivation, prosocial behavior, and altruism: Towards disentanglement and conceptual clarity [Conference session]. EGPA annual conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands, August, pp. 24–26.

112.

Schrodt

Zhuang

Guan

(2024). A conditional process analysis of emerging adults’ motivated information management with parents, family conversation orientation, and intentions to vaccinate for COVID-19. Health Communication, 39(4), 754–766.

113.

Shen

S. C.

Dubey

(2019). Addressing vaccine hesitancy: Clinical guidance for primary care physicians working with parents. Canadian Family Physician, 65(3), 175–181.

114.

Shivaram

(2021). 1 in 10 Americans say the COVID-19 vaccine conflicts with their religious beliefs. National Public Radio.

115.

Siddiqui

Wasif

(2021). Muslim American giving 2021. Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/32235367-58a0-4155-b2bc-b1718ddf4216/content

116.

Silvonen

Kesten

Cabral

Coast

Ben-Shlomo

Christensen

(2023). Views and perceptions of people aged 55+ on the vaccination programme for older adults in the UK: A qualitative study. Vaccines, 11(4), 870.

117.

Snyder

Dwyer

(2013). Altruism and prosocial behavior. In Weiner

(Ed.), Handbook of psychology (pp. 467–83). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

118.

Sobierajski

Rzymski

Wanke-Rytt

(2023). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes toward vaccination: Representative study of polish society. Vaccines, 11(6), 1069.

119.

Sun

Lin

Operario

(2021). Interest in COVID-19 vaccine trials participation among young adults in China: Willingness, reasons for hesitancy, and demographic and psychosocial determinants. Preventive Medicine Reports, 22, 101350.

120.

Swap

W. C.

(1991). When prosocial behavior becomes altruistic: An attributional analysis. Current Psychology, 10, 49–64.

121.

Terefa

D. R.

Shama

A. T.

Feyisa

B. R.

Desisa

A. E.

Geta

E. T.

Cheme

M. C.

Edosa

A. T.

(2021). COVID-19 vaccine uptake and associated factors among health professionals in Ethiopia. Infection and Drug Resistance, 14, 5531–5541.

122.

Terrier

Chen

D. L.

Sutter

(2021). COVID-19 within families amplifies the prosociality gap between adolescents of high and low socioeconomic status. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(46), e2110891118.

123.

Troiano

Nardi

(2021). Vaccine hesitancy in the era of COVID-19. Public Health, 194, 245–251.

124.

Türkmen

İ.

Kaya

R. R.

Ersan

. (2022). The effect of trust in politicians and perceptions of macro control on attitudes towards vaccines during the covid-19 pandemic process. Acıbadem Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi, 13(3), 450–456.

125.

United States Food | Drug Administration, Statista. (2022). Global COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration as of 2021. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1194934/number-of-covid-vaccine-doses-administered-by-county-worldwide/

126.

Van Bavel

J. J.

Gadarian

S. K.

Knowles

Ruggeri

. (2024). Political polarization and health. Nature Medicine, 30, 3085–3093.

127.

Wang

Tong

(2021). The impact of age difference on the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 758294.

128.

Wispé

(1991). The psychology of sympathy. Plenum Press.

129.

Wooten

K. G.

Wortley

P. M.

Singleton

J. A.

Euler

G. L.

(2012). Perceptions matter: Beliefs about influenza vaccine and vaccination behavior among elderly white, black and Hispanic Americans. Vaccine, 30(48), 6927–6934.

130.

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. World Health Organization.

131.

Worldometer. (2023). Countries where Coronavirus has spread—Worldometer. www.worldometers.info.

132.

Wróblewski

Meler

(2024). Political polarization may affect attitudes towards vaccination. An analysis based on the European Social Survey data from 23 countries. European Journal of Public Health, 34(2), 375–379.

133.

Yang

Poudel

Simpson

Chou

Ngorsuraches

(2024). Important barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among African-Americans in black belt region. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 11(2), 1033–1044.

134.

Zezelj

Petrović

Ivanović

Kurčubić

(2023). I trust my immunity more than your vaccines: “Appeal to nature” bias strongly predicts questionable health behaviors in the pandemic. Plos One, 18(2), e0279122.

Kind Enough to Vax? Decoding the Relationship Between Prosociality and COVID-19 Vaccination Intent in American Adults

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References