The Association Between Cultural Tightness and COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence From 28 Countries: Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract BackgroundSocial norms provided a framework for understanding a variety of behaviors. Cultural tightness was introduced to measure the level of adherence to social norms and tolerance of deviant behavior. ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the association betwee...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JMIR Publications
2025-04-01
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| Series: | JMIR Public Health and Surveillance |
| Online Access: | https://publichealth.jmir.org/2025/1/e66872 |
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| Summary: | Abstract
BackgroundSocial norms provided a framework for understanding a variety of behaviors. Cultural tightness was introduced to measure the level of adherence to social norms and tolerance of deviant behavior.
ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the association between cultural tightness and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
MethodsA total of 44,339 participants aged 18 years and older were enrolled from 28 different countries between 2020 and 2022. We used the Vaccine Confidence Index (3 items related to evaluation of importance, effectiveness, and safety) with a 5-point Likert scale to collect COVID-19 vaccine confidence. Demographic information at the individual-level was obtained through the survey, while national-level data were sourced from the World Bank and Hofstede insights. Multilevel linear regressions with random effects for country were used to examine the association between cultural tightness and COVID-19 vaccine confidence.
ResultsOf the participants, 21,968 (50.2%) were male and 18,957 (43.3%) had an education level of university or above. Vietnam exhibited the highest level of confidence (mean 13.31, SD 1.71) on COVID-19 vaccine and Slovakia had the lowest level (mean 9.52, SD 0.14). The higher levels of cultural tightness were positively linked to greater vaccine confidence (β=1.94, 95% CI 1.72-2.15; PPP
ConclusionsLower level of cultural tightness might be positively associated with low vaccine confidence. Our findings offered the insight for designing tailor interventions to vaccine hesitancy in different cultural tightness context. |
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| ISSN: | 2369-2960 |