Predictors of COVID-19 Stress and COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance among Adolescents in Ghana

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to ravage world economies, and with its recent mutations, countries worldwide are finding ways of ramping up their vaccination programmes. This cross-sectional design study, therefore, examined the predictors of COVID-19 stress and COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among adolescents in Ghana. A total of 817 participants were conveniently selected to respond to measures on fear of COVID-19, perceived stigma from COVID-19, self-stigma from COVID-19, believing COVID-19 information, COVID-19 infection prevention behaviours, COVID-19 stress, and COVID-19 vaccination acceptance. It was found that females believed COVID-19 information and accepted COVID-19 vaccination more than males did. Moreover, there were significant relationships between the majority of the COVID-19-related variables. Furthermore, fear of COVID-19, self-stigma from COVID-19, and COVID-19 infection prevention behaviours were found to be significant predictors of COVID-19 stress. Additionally, believing COVID-19 information, danger and contamination fears (a subscale of COVID-19 stress), and traumatic stress (a subscale of COVID-19 stress) were significant predictors of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance. These findings imply that different factors influence different COVID-19 variable. Therefore, careful considerations and research should be employed by health authorities and policymakers in preparing COVID-19 information to target different age groups and for different COVID-19 purposes.

The Mediating Role of Selfitis in the Associations between Self-Esteem, Problematic Social Media Use, Problematic Smartphone Use, Body-Self Appearance, and Psychological Distress among Young Ghanaian Adults

“…Therefore, readers should exercise caution in overly extending the findings. Lastly, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have influenced the results as previous studies have associated COVID-19 variables with mental health conditions [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ]. That is, COVID-19 has been reported to have deteriorated people’s mental health via increased job stress or problematic use of social media, smartphones, and other digital devices [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ].…”

The influence of deliberate rumination on the post-traumatic growth of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic and the moderating role of self-efficacy

“…One cross-sectional study showed that stress faced by adolescents may lead to physical and mental health challenges and that COVID-19 may lead to the deterioration of adolescents' mental health ( 5 ). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia was higher than that before the outbreak ( 6 ).…”

The Effect of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance, Intention, and/or Hesitancy and Its Association with Our Health and/or Important Areas of Functioning

“…In the quest to understand and improve the COVID-19 vaccination drive, some researchers assume that some COVID-19-related variables—such as COVID-19 stress, fear of COVID-19, perceived stigma from COVID-19, self-stigma from COVID-19, and believing COVID-19 information—may be helpful in this regard [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. For instance, a study by Adjaottor et al [ 19 ] reported that believing COVID-19 information, danger and contamination fears, and traumatic stress (subscales of COVID-19 stress) were significant predictors of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance but not fear of COVID-19, perceived stigma from COVID-19, self-stigma from COVID-19, and COVID-19 infection prevention behaviours. Other researchers have reported interesting findings after examining the association between COVID-19-related variables and COVID-19 vaccination, taking into consideration sex, migration status, and others [ 20 , 21 ].…”

“…A study among the Hungarian population revealed that more participants were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine compared to seasonal influenza, even after grouping participants based on demographic data or perceived financial status [ 37 ]. Other studies provided different reasons and factors influencing COVID-19 vaccination [ 19 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Taking these studies into consideration, there will be a need for more studies examining the intention of receiving different vaccines and attitudes towards those vaccines and the vaccination drive.…”