PMID- 32551900 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20211122 LR - 20211122 IS - 1465-3966 (Electronic) IS - 1354-8506 (Linking) VI - 26 IP - 9 DP - 2021 Oct TI - Is the worship of celebrities associated with resistance to vaccinations? Relationships between celebrity admiration, anti-vaccination attitudes, and beliefs in conspiracy. PG - 1063-1072 LID - 10.1080/13548506.2020.1778754 [doi] AB - Vaccinations and anti-vaccination attitudes have reclaimed the spotlight as a crucial health behavior because of the recent surge in outbreaks of preventable diseases. One factor that may be contributing to this trend is the outspoken role that anti-vaccination celebrities play. The main purpose of the present study was to determine whether anti-vaccination attitudes are related to celebrity admiration. We hypothesized a positive correlation between anti-vaccination attitudes and celebrity interest and admiration. We also hypothesized that persons who are very concerned about the commercial profiteering of vaccinations will also tend to believe in conspiracies. Participants (N = 320, 40% female, mean age = 36.28, SD = 11.32) completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) and the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale (VAX) through an online survey management system. We found significant positive associations between anti-vaccination attitudes and celebrity admiration and interest. However, celebrity admiration and interest did not correlate with mistrust of vaccine benefits, as measured by a subdomain of the VAX. Additionally, we found that concerns about commercial profiteering from vaccines correlated with beliefs in conspiracy theories. Our study suggests a new way of approaching people's anti-vaccination attitudes that may be used to effectively educate the public about the importance of vaccinations. FAU - Martinez-Berman, Lisset AU - Martinez-Berman L AD - Science and Mathematics, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA. FAU - McCutcheon, Lynn AU - McCutcheon L AD - Editorial Office, North American Journal of Psychology, Winter Garden, Florida, USA. FAU - Huynh, Ho P AU - Huynh HP AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9931-7467 AD - Science and Mathematics, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20200618 PL - England TA - Psychol Health Med JT - Psychology, health & medicine JID - 9604099 SB - IM MH - Adult MH - *Attitude MH - *Famous Persons MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Male MH - *Vaccination/psychology OTO - NOTNLM OT - Anti-vaccination attitudes OT - celebrity admiration OT - conspiracy theories OT - vaccination attitudes OT - vaccines EDAT- 2020/06/20 06:00 MHDA- 2021/11/23 06:00 CRDT- 2020/06/20 06:00 PHST- 2020/06/20 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2021/11/23 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2020/06/20 06:00 [entrez] AID - 10.1080/13548506.2020.1778754 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Psychol Health Med. 2021 Oct;26(9):1063-1072. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2020.1778754. Epub 2020 Jun 18.