TY - JOUR

T1 - The association between vaccination status identification and societal polarization

AU - Henkel, Luca

AU - Sprengholz, Philipp

AU - Korn, Lars

AU - Betsch, Cornelia

AU - Böhm, Robert

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support for this study was provided in part by grants from University of Erfurt and Thüringer Staatskanzlei (awarded to C.B.) and the University of Vienna (awarded to R.B.) as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG, BE BE3970/11-1). L.H.: Funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy (EXC 2126/1–390838866) is gratefully acknowledged. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Public discord between those vaccinated and those unvaccinated for COVID-19 has intensified globally. Theories of intergroup relations propose that identifying with one’s social group plays a key role in the perceptions and behaviours that fuel intergroup conflict. We test whether identification with one’s vaccination status is associated with current societal polarization. The study draws on panel data from samples of vaccinated (n = 3,267) and unvaccinated (n = 2,038) respondents in Germany and Austria that were collected in December 2021 and February, March and July 2022. The findings confirm that vaccination status identification (VSI) explains substantial variance in a range of polarizing attitudes and behaviours. VSI was also related to higher psychological reactance toward mandatory vaccination policies among the unvaccinated. Higher levels of VSI reduced the gap between intended and actual counterbehaviours over time by the unvaccinated. VSI appears to be an important measure for predicting behavioural responses to vaccination policies.

AB - Public discord between those vaccinated and those unvaccinated for COVID-19 has intensified globally. Theories of intergroup relations propose that identifying with one’s social group plays a key role in the perceptions and behaviours that fuel intergroup conflict. We test whether identification with one’s vaccination status is associated with current societal polarization. The study draws on panel data from samples of vaccinated (n = 3,267) and unvaccinated (n = 2,038) respondents in Germany and Austria that were collected in December 2021 and February, March and July 2022. The findings confirm that vaccination status identification (VSI) explains substantial variance in a range of polarizing attitudes and behaviours. VSI was also related to higher psychological reactance toward mandatory vaccination policies among the unvaccinated. Higher levels of VSI reduced the gap between intended and actual counterbehaviours over time by the unvaccinated. VSI appears to be an important measure for predicting behavioural responses to vaccination policies.

U2 - 10.1038/s41562-022-01469-6

DO - 10.1038/s41562-022-01469-6

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36329314

AN - SCOPUS:85141163392

VL - 7

SP - 231

EP - 239

JO - Nature Human Behaviour

JF - Nature Human Behaviour

SN - 2397-3374

ER -