Vaccine conspiracy beliefs and some factors influencing them: a study with secondary school students
Authors
- Valeriano Bellver Ribelles (ES) Departament de Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i Socials. Universitat de València https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3629-5053
- Joan Josep Solaz-Portolés (ES) Departament de Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i Socials. Grup CDC. Universitat de València https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4690-6556
- Vicente Sanjosé López (ES) Departament de Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i Socials. Grup CDC. Universitat de València https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3806-1717
Abstract
The goals of this research focused on the assessment of vaccine conspiracy beliefs and the impact of trust in science, knowledge about the nature of science, grade level and gender on them. A quantitative ex post facto cross-sectional research was conducted. A total of 301 students (148 girls and 153 boys) from three different grades of Spanish secondary education (8th, 9th, and 11th grades, between 13 and 17 years old) participated in this study. A questionnaire on vaccine conspiracy beliefs, a questionnaire on trust in science, and a questionnaire on nature of science, were administered to participants. Scores obtained and correlation, multiple regression, and mediation analyses suggest that: a) a) students' beliefs about vaccines were generally quite satisfactory, and gender had no significant effect on them; b) the variable that most influenced the variability of these beliefs was trust in science; and c) trust in science played a mediating role between knowledge about the nature of science and grade level, and beliefs, which showed the indirect and significant effects of both variables on these beliefs.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Valeriano Bellver Ribelles, Joan Josep Solaz-Portolés, Vicente Sanjosé López
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