Abstract
Background: Following the initial manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, numerous studies have investigated factors that influence people’s vaccination intentions. However, no studies have examined links of vaccination attitudes with body-related attitudes, especially body appreciation. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted this study to disentangle the relationship between college students’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions and body appreciation. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Chinese college students. Participants completed the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) and other questionnaire measures of demographics, intentions to be vaccinated, and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination programs. Results: A total of 2058 college students participated in this study. Students who were willing to get COVID-19 vaccines had significantly higher BAS-2 scores than did those who were unwilling to receive a vaccine (3.61 ± 0.84 vs. 3.34 ± 0.92, p < 0.001). A hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to test the association between body appreciation and COVID-19 vaccine intentions when controlling for other covariates; elevated BAS-2 scores were associated with greater willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 1.250, 95%CI: 1.112–1.406, p < 0.001), independent of other significant influences. Conclusion: Our study was the first to reveal that body appreciation is a significant factor related to college students’ COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Public health interventions designed to improve people’s body-appreciation levels may help in efforts to promote universal immunization.
Highlights
Following the initial manufacture of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, numerous studies have arisen to investigate factors associated with people’s willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine [1,2,3]
Given that associations between body image attitudes and health-related behaviors reflecting COVID-19 vaccination intentions have not been examined within this population at risk of remaining unvaccinated, we examined the association between body appreciation and future COVID-19 vaccine uptake intentions among college students
A total of 2282 college students were invited to participate in this study
Summary
Following the initial manufacture of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, numerous studies have arisen to investigate factors associated with people’s willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine [1,2,3]. Previous studies have found influenza vaccinations are associated with perceived stress and self-esteem [18], both of which are strongly associated with body appreciation [17,19,20]. Vaccine acceptance has been linked to lower levels of depression and anxious symptoms [21,22], each of which is closely related to greater body appreciation [23,24]. Together, such findings suggest that body appreciation is a plausible factor associated with people’s COVID-19 vaccination intentions that can operate either directly or indirectly through its relationships with levels of self-esteem, perceived stress, and/or emotional distress
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