The Role of Felt Ambivalence on COVID-19 Vaccination and Information Seeking: Threading the Needle in Risk Communication
Abstract
College-aged youth has the highest vaccination hesitancy among the adult population, the health decisions formed during this transitional period would inform their future parental decisions related to vaccination. Integrating the extant literature on ambivalence and the Risk Perception Attitude Framework (RPA), this project examined the role of felt ambivalence and perceived risk on COVID-19 vaccination attitude and behavior among college-aged young adults. This project used a survey with a sample of college-aged young adults (n = 379). Findings indicated that response efficacy mediated the relationship between risk perception and vaccination intention. Moreover, the influence of risk perception on vaccination intention was serially mediated by perceived vaccine efficacy and felt ambivalence. This study expands the RPA’s efficacy in predicting persuasive outcomes to a new health communication domain. It also lends support for considering ambivalence as a key factor in risk communication, particularly regarding vaccination. Practical implications and limitations have also been outlined.
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