Body Appreciation as a Factor Associated with College Students’ Willingness to Receive Future COVID-19 Vaccines
Zi-Han Liu,
Wei Bai,
Hong Cai,
Shou Liu,
Xu Chen,
Han Qi,
Rui Liu,
Teris Cheung,
Zhaohui Su,
Todd Jackson,
Sha Sha,
Yu-Tao Xiang
Affiliations
Zi-Han Liu
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China
Wei Bai
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China
Hong Cai
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China
Shou Liu
Department of Public Health, Medical College, Qinghai University, Xining 810000, China
Xu Chen
The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, School of Mental Health, Beijing 100069, China
Han Qi
The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, School of Mental Health, Beijing 100069, China
Rui Liu
The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, School of Mental Health, Beijing 100069, China
Teris Cheung
School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Zhaohui Su
Center on Smart and Connected Health Technologies, Mays Cancer Center, School of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 73301, USA
Todd Jackson
Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China
Sha Sha
The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, School of Mental Health, Beijing 100069, China
Yu-Tao Xiang
Unit of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health and Medicinal Administration, & Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China
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 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.
