COVID-19 precautionary behaviors and vaccine acceptance among older individuals: The role of close kin

Abstract

The family plays a central role in shaping health behaviors of its members through social control and support mechanisms. We investigate whether and to what extent close kin (i.e., partner and children) matter for older people in taking on precautionary behaviors (e.g., wearing a mask) and vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Drawing on data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we combine its Corona Surveys (June to September 2020 and June to August 2021) with pre-COVID information (October 2019 to March 2020). We find that having close kin (especially a partner) is associated with a higher probability of both adopting precautionary behaviors and accepting a COVID-19 vaccine. Results are robust to controlling for other potential drivers of precautionary behaviors and vaccine acceptance and to accounting for coresidence with kin. Our findings suggest that policymakers and practitioners may differently address kinless individuals when promoting public policy measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; close kin; family; precautionary behaviors; vaccine acceptance.

Fig. 1.

Having close kin (partner and children) and COVID-19 precautionary behaviors. Notes: The graph shows the effect of the explanatory variable (having kin) in the form of average marginal effects (AMEs) with 95% CIs from nine separate logistic regression models (one for each of the considered precautionary behaviors). Each AME compares the predicted probability of adopting a precautionary behavior for one of the three groups of older adults who have kin available (e.g., those who have both a partner and children) with the predicted probability of the outcome for the reference group (kinless, i.e., older adults who lack both a partner and children). All control variables are included in the models. Full estimates are available in SI Appendix, Table S1. Data are from the SHARE Corona Survey 1 (June to September 2020).

Fig. 2.

Having close kin (partner and children) and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Notes: The graph shows results for the effect of the explanatory variable (having kin) in the form of average marginal effects (AMEs) with 95% CIs from a multinomial logistic regression model for the three-level categorical outcome vaccine acceptance. Each AME compares the predicted probability of a certain outcome category (e.g., being vaccinated or willing to get the vaccine) for one of the three groups of older adults who have kin available (e.g., those who have both a partner and children) with the predicted probability for the reference group (kinless, i.e., older adults who lack both a partner and children). All control variables are included in the models. Full estimates are available in SI Appendix, Table S2. Data are from the SHARE Corona Survey 2 (June to August 2021).