Personality Traits as Predictors of Vaccine Hesitancy and Preference for Alternative Medicine

The present study aims to investigate personality traits (Openness to experience, Agreeableness, Honesty-Humility) as predictors of vaccine hesitancy and preference for alternative medicine. The research question of the study is: How do personality traits relate to vaccine hesitancy and preference for alternative medicine? Participants (N =325) from the Netherlands responded online to demographic questions, rated their indicators of vaccine hesitancy (5C Scale), alternative medicine use (I-CAM-Q questionnaire) and personality traits (60-HEXACO model). To test the hypotheses of the study multiple linear regression analysis was conducted. Openness was a positive predictor of alternative medicine use, but did not relate to vaccine hesitancy. Both alternative medicine use and vaccine hesitancy were not associated with Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness. Vaccine hesitancy and preference for alternative medicine were positively related, but this could not be attributed to personality traits. Individual differences have been largely unexplored in previous studies related to vaccine hesitancy and alternative medicine, so the present study contributes to a sparse literature concerning this topic.