Beyond emotions: Social cognitive predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intentions before and after vaccine roll-out

Understanding the drivers of COVID-19 vaccination intentions remains relevant as public health systems prepare for future pandemics. This study examined how emotional and social-cognitive factors influence COVID-19 vaccination intentions during two key phases of the COVID-19 pandemic: before (April-June 2020) and after (January-February 2021) vaccination rollout. A total of 586 adults completed an online survey assessing beliefs about COVID-19, self-efficacy to adhere to protective behaviours, perceived stress, affect, psychological flexibility, and prosociality. Self-efficacy, prosociality, psychological flexibility and positive affect significantly declined after vaccination rollout. Higher self-efficacy and perceived severity of the disease consistently predicted stronger vaccination intentions across time points. Perceived susceptibility was negatively associated with vaccination intention before, but not after rollout. The psychological variables were not significant predictors of intentions. These findings underscore the importance of social-cognitive factors, especially self-efficacy and perceived severity, in shaping vaccination-related decisions, with implications for designing effective communication strategies in future health emergencies.

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Publication Details

Journal
PLOS Global Public Health
Published
2026-01-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0005668
Primary Topic
Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Beyond emotions: Social cognitive predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intentions before and after vaccine roll-out

Savvas Papacostas, Angelos P. Kassianos, Diana Obando, Dorottya Őri et al.
PLOS Global Public Health
Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
article

Beyond emotions: Social cognitive predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intentions before and after vaccine roll-out

Savvas Papacostas, Angelos P. Kassianos, Diana Obando, Dorottya Őri, D. Lamnisos, Yuen Yu Chong, Andrew T. Gloster, Vasilis S. Vasiliou, David Gosar, Marios Constantinou, Rhonda M. Merwin, Maria Kyprianidou, M. Garcia-Martin, Giovambattista Presti, Christiana Nicolaou, Marisa Páez-Blarrina, Bartosz Kleszcz, Gökçen Aydın, David Dias Neto, Louise McHugh, J.-L. Monestès, Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas, Francisco Montesinos, Valeria Squatrito, Stefan Höfer, Raimo Lappalainen, Ho Yu Cheng, Jelena Lubenko, Athina Manoli, Ana Júlia Benício da Silva, Maria Karekla, Frederick Dionne, Adriana Baban, Wai Tong Chien, Francisco Ruiz, Javier Alvarez-Galvez, Iva Ivanović, Miguel Segura-Vargas
article en

Abstract

Understanding the drivers of COVID-19 vaccination intentions remains relevant as public health systems prepare for future pandemics. This study examined how emotional and social-cognitive factors influence COVID-19 vaccination intentions during two key phases of the COVID-19 pandemic: before (April-June 2020) and after (January-February 2021) vaccination rollout. A total of 586 adults completed an online survey assessing beliefs about COVID-19, self-efficacy to adhere to protective behaviours, perceived stress, affect, psychological flexibility, and prosociality. Self-efficacy, prosociality, psychological flexibility and positive affect significantly declined after vaccination rollout. Higher self-efficacy and perceived severity of the disease consistently predicted stronger vaccination intentions across time points. Perceived susceptibility was negatively associated with vaccination intention before, but not after rollout. The psychological variables were not significant predictors of intentions. These findings underscore the importance of social-cognitive factors, especially self-efficacy and perceived severity, in shaping vaccination-related decisions, with implications for designing effective communication strategies in future health emergencies.

PLOS Global Public HealthVol. 6(1)
University College Dublin (IE), Semmelweis University (HU), University of Lisbon (PT), Innsbruck Medical University (AT), University of Ljubljana (SI), Universidad de La Sabana (CO), University of Lucerne (CH), Cyprus University of Technology (CY), Queen Mary University of London (GB), Duke University (US), University of Nicosia (CY), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Royal Holloway University of London (GB), European University Cyprus (CY), Universidad Loyola Andalucía (ES), Università degli Studi di Enna Kore (IT), Universidad de Zaragoza (ES), Ljubljana University Medical Centre (SI), Babeș-Bolyai University (RO), University of Cyprus (CY), Universidad de Cádiz (ES), Heim Pál Országos Gyermekgyógyászati Intézet (HU), ISPA - Instituto Universitário (PT), Universidad Loyola (BO), TED University (TR), Riga Stradiņš University (LV), Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (CO), Duke University Hospital (US), Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CY), University of Montenegro (ME), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (CA), Universidad de Sevilla (ES), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Universidad Europea de Madrid (ES), University of Jyväskylä (FI)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 99%
Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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