Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) escapists are individuals who indulge in the MMORPG environment to avoid real world problems. Though a relationship between escapism and deteriorated well-being has been established, little is known about particular pathways that mediate this relationship. In the current study, we examined this topic by testing an integrative model of MMORPG escapism, which includes game realism beliefs, gaming time, offline social support, and online social support for offline problems. MMORPG players (N=1,056) completed measures of escapist motivation, game realism beliefs, social support, well-being, and reported gaming time. The tested structural equation model had a good fit to the data. We found that individuals with escapist motivation endorsed stronger game realism beliefs and spent more time playing MMORPGs, which, in turn, increased online support but decreased offline social support. Well-being was favorably affected by both online and offline social support, although offline social support had a stronger effect. The higher availability of online social support for offline problems did not compensate for the lower availability of offline support among MMORPG escapists. Understanding the psychological factors related to depletion of social resources in MMORPG players can help optimize MMORPGs as leisure activities.

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Vaccination is crucial in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. To encourage as many people as possible to be vaccinated, it is essential to identify the determinants of COVID-19 vaccination intention. The present study aimed to do so through an application of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). We examined variables associated with TPB, perceived severity of COVID-19, knowing someone afflicted with COVID-19, and individual differences, such as age, gender, and psychological reactance, among 551 Polish participants. Attitude (utility beliefs) toward COVID-19 vaccination was the strongest predictor of vaccination intention, followed by beliefs about social norms and perceived behavioral control. Older age and knowing someone with COVID-19 led to higher vaccination intention through perceived higher severity of the infection, and higher levels of all TPB components, compared with other participants. Being a woman and having higher trait reactance negatively affected COVID-19 vaccination intention through lower levels of all TPB components. The results show that COVID-19 vaccination intention is directly determined by all TPB components, and is affected by gender, age, COVID-19-related variables, and reactance. Our results contribute to the scientific pursuit of encouraging uptake of the 1 Abbreviations: AGFI, adjusted goodness of fit index; AVE, average variance extracted; CFA, confirmatory factor analysis; CFI, comparative fit index; GFI, goodness of fit index; HPRS, Hong Psychological Reactance Scale; HTMT, heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations; RMSEA, root mean square of error of approximation; SEM, structural equation modelling; SRMR, standardized root mean square residual; TLI, Tucker-Lewis index; TPB, theory of planned behavior; WLSM, weighted least squares-mean. DETERMINANTS OF COVID-19 VACCINATIONSCOVID-19 vaccine by identifying modifiable determinants that could be targeted in health promotion campaigns.

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Gratitude interventions can be divided into those that explicitly cultivate appreciative feelings (gratitude journaling) and those that strengthen relationships (gratitude letter). There is an absence of research on the motivation to participate in different gratitude interventions. Using an experimental approach, we compared two gratitude interventions on underlying motivations for starting and completion. We provided students (N = 904) with an opportunity to start a web-based intervention (gratitude journaling or letter). Subsequently, we measured the perceived usefulness of the intervention, social norms related to using this intervention, their self-control, and intention to start the intervention. Results showed that keeping a gratitude journal and writing a gratitude letter to someone were perceived as equally useful and socially acceptable. Yet participants felt less efficacious in writing a gratitude letter, which in turn decreased self-initiation and the actual completion of the intervention. As for individual differences, people with greater dispositional gratitude expected the intervention to be easier, more beneficial, and socially acceptable; meaningful sex differences also emerged. Our findings provide new insights into underlying motivations and individual differences that influence the initiation and efficacy of gratitude interventions.

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We examined the effects of religiosity on COVID-19 vaccination rates using a cross-national comparison while controlling for socio-economic factors and culture. Our analysis, conducted on data from 90 countries representing 86% of the world population, showed that Christianity was negatively related to vaccination, while there was no relation with Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and nonbelief. The importance of religion, freedom of expression and belief, sex ratio, median age, and almost all cultural factors were not related to vaccination, whereas Human Development Index was. The influence of different religions on vaccination rates has also been described.