[Don't worry, they still think we are MORANS, but at least purebloods are still alive and healthy. We are the news.]
Ideological diversity of media consumption predicts COVID-19 vaccination
22 Nov 2024
This study examines the relationship between respondents’ vaccine hesitancy, reported media consumption patterns, ideological leanings, and trust in science. A large-scale survey conducted in the US in 2022 (N = 1,646) assessed self-reported COVID-19 vaccination, trust in science, and reported media consumption. Findings show that, regardless of personal ideology, individuals who consumed less conservative media and had a more ideologically diverse media diet were more likely to be fully vaccinated and boosted. Additionally, consuming more conservative media was negatively associated with trust in science, but this relationship was weaker among those with a more ideologically diverse media diet. By incorporating data from an earlier wave of the survey in the summer of 2020, before COVID-19 vaccines were available, we found that a less conservative and more ideologically diverse media diet in 2022 predicted vaccination behavior in 2022, controlling for prior vaccine intentions and media consumption in 2020. A similar survey conducted in the UK in the summer of 2020 paralleled patterns in the US regarding vaccine intentions and media consumption. These results suggest that an ideologically diverse media diet is associated with reduced vaccine hesitancy. Public health initiatives might benefit from encouraging ideologically diverse media consumption.
COVID-19 underscored that public health crises are social-behavioral problems as much as biomedical problems. Rapid vaccine development and delivery provided an opportunity to minimize the pandemic’s damage. But vaccine hesitancy hindered vaccine uptake in the United States (US) and elsewhere. Vaccine hesitancy cost hundreds of thousands of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic1, not to mention vast social and economic costs2.
Understanding the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy is important not only for addressing the ongoing threat of COVID-19 but also for tackling other diseases like influenza, which continue to face challenges in vaccine uptake. Vaccine hesitancy was identified as a top ten global threat in 20213, and remains a significant public health challenge. Research has highlighted socio-demographic factors that predict vaccine hesitancy, including age, education, cognitive reflection, ethnicity, diminished trust in institutions, and conservative ideology. This exploratory study builds on existing literature by examining how reported media consumption is associated with vaccine hesitancy and trust in science, independent of previously documented factors. Specifically, we investigate how two aspects of self-reported media consumption predict vaccine hesitancy and trust in science: the consumption of conservative media and the ideological diversity of consumed media. We examine whether these indices of media consumption predict vaccination behavior and trust in science over and above personal ideology and other previously documented factors.
Our findings indicate that consuming more conservative media is negatively associated with self-reported COVID-19 vaccination. Conversely, consuming a greater ideological diversity of media positively predicts COVID-19 vaccination. These patterns emerge even when controlling for vaccine intentions and media consumption from two years prior, as well as personal ideology, age, education, and other individual differences. When examining vaccine intentions measured in 2020, we observe similar trends in the United Kingdom (UK).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-77408-4