Table 1.
Determinants of skeptical positions on vaccination
| Agreement with the following statements | “Vaccines overload and weaken the immune system” | “Vaccines can cause the disease against which they protect” | “Vaccines often produce serious side effects” | “Vaccines are not rigorously tested before being authorized for use” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focal explanatory variable | ||||
| Ideological extremism | 0.006 | 0.019+ | 0.025* | 0.068** |
| (0.011) | (0.011) | (0.011) | (0.017) | |
| Controls | ||||
| “My voice does not count” | 0.043* | 0.014 | − 0.007 | 0.220** |
| (0.019) | (0.018) | (0.018) | (0.029) | |
| Political interest strong–low | 0.033+ | 0.022 | 0.042* | − 0.014 |
| (0.018) | (0.017) | (0.017) | (0.028) | |
| Life satisfaction high–low | 0.047+ | 0.047* | 0.032 | 0.065+ |
| (0.025) | (0.024) | (0.024) | (0.038) | |
| Tend not to trust in nat. government | 0.155** | 0.159** | 0.199** | 0.169** |
| (0.036) | (0.032) | (0.033) | (0.057) | |
| Tend not to trust in the media | 0.137** | 0.127** | 0.216** | 0.307** |
| (0.034) | (0.033) | (0.031) | (0.053) | |
| Female | 0.004 | 0.054+ | 0.088** | − 0.036 |
| (0.032) | (0.030) | (0.030) | (0.049) | |
| Years spent in the education system | − 0.040** | − 0.013+ | − 0.039** | − 0.026* |
| (0.007) | (0.007) | (0.007) | (0.011) | |
| Respondent has children | − 0.028 | − 0.022 | − 0.067* | − 0.095+ |
| (0.036) | (0.034) | (0.034) | (0.055) | |
| Age | 0.001 | 0.014* | − 0.005 | − 0.011 |
| (0.006) | (0.006) | (0.006) | (0.009) | |
| Age (squared) | − 0.000 | − 0.000** | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| (0.000) | (0.000) | (0.000) | (0.000) | |
| Financial problems | 0.262** | 0.200** | 0.179** | 0.260** |
| (0.039) | (0.038) | (0.037) | (0.058) | |
| Self-assessment working class | − 0.049 | 0.000 | 0.004 | − 0.127+ |
| (0.042) | (0.040) | (0.039) | (0.065) | |
| Self-assessment lower middle class | 0.011 | 0.019 | 0.148** | − 0.008 |
| (0.045) | (0.043) | (0.043) | (0.069) | |
| Occupation: manual worker | 0.071 | − 0.013 | 0.063 | 0.177** |
| (0.045) | (0.043) | (0.043) | (0.068) | |
| Unemployed | 0.063 | − 0.028 | 0.158* | − 0.033 |
| (0.076) | (0.073) | (0.073) | (0.117) | |
| Retired | − 0.012 | 0.003 | 0.041 | − 0.203* |
| (0.055) | (0.051) | (0.051) | (0.086) | |
| Occupation: self-employed | 0.115+ | − 0.125* | 0.147* | 0.175+ |
| (0.063) | (0.061) | (0.059) | (0.095) | |
| Country dummy variables | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Constant | − 0.958** | − 0.891** | 0.145 | − 2.824** |
| (0.196) | (0.186) | (0.184) | (0.298) | |
| N | 20,271 | 20,271 | 20,271 | 20,271 |
| AIC | 24,295.091 | 26,788.444 | 27,205.859 | 12,600.181 |
| Log likelihood | − 12,100.546 | − 13,347.222 | − 13,555.929 | − 6253.091 |
Estimates from a logit model. Numbers in parentheses are standard errors. Significance levels: +p ≤ 0.1; *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01