Table 1.
Sample characteristics of cross-sectional Australian samples collected in April 2020 (n = 1146) and November 2020 (n = 1941). Data are displayed as n (%) unless indicated otherwise.
| Characteristic | Level | April (n = 1146) |
November (n = 1941) |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 47.8 (18.3) | 45.4 (16.9) | <0.001 | |
| Age group | <0.001 | |||
| 18 to 25 years | 176 (15.4%) | 273 (14.1%) | ||
| 26 to 40 years | 279 (24.3%) | 606 (31.2%) | ||
| 41 to 55 years | 223 (19.5%) | 474 (24.4%) | ||
| 56 to 90 years | 468 (40.8%) | 588 (30.3%) | ||
| Gender | 0.59 | |||
| Male | 576 (50.3%) | 951 (49.0%) | ||
| Female | 569 (49.7%) | 986 (50.8%) | ||
| Prefer not to say | 1 (0.1%) | 4 (0.2%) | ||
| Education | <0.001 | |||
| High school or less | 344 (30.0%) | 670 (34.5%) | ||
| Certificate I-IV | 232 (20.2%) | 701 (36.1%) | ||
| University | 570 (49.7%) | 570 (29.4%) | ||
| Residential State / Territory | 0.24 | |||
| Australian Capital Territory | 25 (2.2%) | 44 (2.3%) | ||
| Northern Territory | 12 (1.0%) | 19 (1.0%) | ||
| Victoria | 291 (25.4%) | 490 (25.5%) | ||
| New South Wales | 328 (28.6%) | 610 (31.4%) | ||
| Queensland | 223 (19.5%) | 401 (20.7%) | ||
| Western Australia | 150 (13.1%) | 201 (10.4%) | ||
| South Australia | 93 (8.1%) | 131 (6.7%) | ||
| Tasmania | 24 (2.1%) | 45 (2.3%) | ||
| Socioeconomic status, mean IRSAD$ quintile, mean (SD) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] | 3.4 (1.4) | 3.2 (1.4) | 0.002 | |
| Adequate Health Literacy^ | 918 (80.1%) | 1620 (83.5%) | 0.018 | |
| Belief not likely to get sick with COVID-19 (not at all) | 205 (18.4%) | 426 (22.7%) | 0.005 | |
| Belief that vaccine efficacy is made up (agree) | 327 (28.5%) | 655 (33.7%) | 0.003 | |
| Belief that the threat of COVID-19 is greatly exaggerated (agree) | 231 (20.2%) | 513 (26.4%) | <0.001 | |
| Trust in institutions*, mean (SD) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] | 5.57 (1.12) | 5.41 (1.21) | <0.001 | |
| Confidence in federal government, mean (SD) [1], [2], [3], [4] | 2.88 (0.75) | 2.88 (0.78) | 0.72 | |
| Perceived public health threat, mean (SD) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10] | 7.34 (2.21) | 6.21 (2.60) | <0.001 | |
| COVID-19 vaccine willingness (unadjusted) | <0.001 | |||
| Disagree | 82 (7.2%) | 231 (11.9%) | ||
| Neither disagree or agree | 186 (16.2%) | 361 (18.6%) | ||
| Agree | 878 (76.6%) | 1349 (69.5%) | ||
Assessed using the Single Item Literacy Screener, those responding ‘quite a bit/extremely’ were categorised as having adequate health literacy; ‘not at all/a little bit/somewhat’ as inadequate health literacy.
IRSAD: Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage9; a quintile value of 1 represents most disadvantaged (least advantaged) and a quintile value of 5 represents most advantaged (least disadvantaged).
Institutional trust included scientists involved in developing and testing new ways to control COVID-19, researchers involved in tracking and predicting COVID-19 cases and medical institutions (GPs, hospitals) involved in managing COVID-19 cases.