Association between attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccines and mental health among 140,259 college students in China

Abstract

Background With the launch of the COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccination rate has become a hot issue of concern. However, the evidence for the relationship between college students’ attitudes toward vaccines and anxiety and depressive symptoms has been limited. Methods In total, 140,259 college students were recruited using a cluster sampling method in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Xinyang city of Henan Province, China, May 21-27, 2021. Anxiety symptoms were determined by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder tool (GAD-7) and depressive symptoms were determined by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Multiple logistic regression was performed to estimate the association between students’ attitudes toward the vaccines and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results The results indicate that 22.45% of students are unclear whether the vaccine can protect them from infection and 45.57% are unclear whether the vaccine is safe and has no side effects. In addition, after adjusting, the model showed that students who think vaccines can protect them and are safe had 0.128 (95%CI 0.110–0.150; P trend < 0.001) times lower risk of anxiety compared to their counterparts who think vaccines can neither protect them nor are safe. Similar ORs were found in depression (aOR = 0.157; 95%CI 0.137–0.180). Conclusion This large-scale study has shown an association between symptoms of anxiety and depression and reluctance to obtain vaccination. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01830-7.

A psychological insight of Moroccan adults’ immunisation behaviour towards emergency vaccines

“… 23 Yet another survey showed more negative attitudes towards such vaccines among men. 27 In terms of physiology, it appears that women are more likely to present side effects than men after immunisation. 28 , 29 Accordingly, they report being more concerned about vaccine safety and efficiency than men, which may contribute to a lower vaccination rate among women.…”

“…As a matter of fact, mass media communication has a major role in shaping attitudes towards vaccines. 27 Prior investigations have stated the existence of an important nexus between social networks, vaccine resistance, and the related conspiracy assumptions. 46 , 47 Loomba et al 48 quantified the effect of misinformation on vaccination coverage, wherein, compared to real facts, misinformation drove down intent to immunise.…”

“… 48 In this way, public health organisations could communicate data on vaccination via the official media, referring to scientific studies, thereby increasing the perception of vaccines and reducing their psychological impact on the population. 27 Besides, healthcare professionals may also contribute to this process, so-called decision support. For example, in a study of pregnant women in New Zealand, decision support was effective in reducing anxiety about immunising their children and raising their intention to undergo vaccination.…”