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. 2014 Feb 20;9(2):e89177.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089177. eCollection 2014.

The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions

Daniel Jolley  1 , Karen M Douglas  1
Affiliations

The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions

Daniel Jolley et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The current studies investigated the potential impact of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and exposure to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, on vaccination intentions. In Study 1, British parents completed a questionnaire measuring beliefs in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and the likelihood that they would have a fictitious child vaccinated. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccination intentions. This effect was mediated by the perceived dangers of vaccines, and feelings of powerlessness, disillusionment and mistrust in authorities. In Study 2, participants were exposed to information that either supported or refuted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, or a control condition. Results revealed that participants who had been exposed to material supporting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories showed less intention to vaccinate than those in the anti-conspiracy condition or controls. This effect was mediated by the same variables as in Study 1. These findings point to the potentially detrimental consequences of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and highlight their potential role in shaping health-related behaviors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Multiple bootstrapping mediation test of the relationship between anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccination intentions.
Dashed lines highlight non-significant relationships and solid lines highlight significant relationships. Boldface type highlights a significant effect as determined by the Monte Carlo 90% confidence interval (CI) which does not contain a zero.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Multiple mediation test between conspiracy condition (using indicate coding) and vaccination intentions.
Dashed straight lines highlight non-significant path relationships and solid straight lines highlight significant path relationships. Boldface type highlights a significant effect as determined by the Monte Carlo 95% confidence interval (CI) which does not contain a zero.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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