Risk Perception of the COVID-19 Vaccines

Revisiting the Psychometric Paradigm

Jody Chin Sing Wong, Janet Zheng Yang

ResearchPosted on rand.org May 9, 2023Published in: Journal of Risk Research (2023). doi: 10.1080/13669877.2023.2208142

Americans' concerns about the risks of vaccination are rising in recent years. In the original piece that explicated the psychometric paradigm, vaccinations were rated as less dreaded and less unknown. However, in 2016, vaccinations were more dreaded and more unknown in the public eye. A national survey (N=1025) conducted in August 2021 reflects this trend in risk perception of the COVID-19 vaccines. Individuals who report different risk perceptions based on the unknown and dread characteristics associated with the COVID-19 vaccines also report different behavioral intent toward the vaccines. Overall, these findings show unknown risk to have a more salient impact on participants' risk perception that influence their vaccine-related decisions.

Read More

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Informa UK Limited
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Online
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2023
  • Pages: 13
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/pubs
  • Document Number: EP-70065

This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.