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Religiosity, political identification and vaccination attitudes among university students: a mediation analysis

Vaccine hesitancy is increasingly becoming an important public health issue in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Croatia, COVID-19 vaccination currently receives unbalanced support from political parties within the political spectrum, while the support of the Catholic Church has not been unequivocal. Having in mind the interconnections between religiosity and political identification in Croatia, the main purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether religiosity and political identification are independently connected with vaccination attitudes, and to explore possible mediating mechanisms of these connections through scientific literacy and trust in the healthcare system. The survey research was conducted on a sample of students coming from Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia (N = 729). All constructs were measured using previously validated scales, with vaccination attitudes measured by means of two independent scales. The results show that only religiosity is independently connected with vaccination attitudes, whereas only the mediating mechanism through scientific literacy is important. The results are discussed within the context of the high overall religiosity of the region wherein the study was conducted and the current political support for vaccination in Croatia.

Religiosity, political identification, vaccine hesitancy, scientific literacy, trust

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