Vaccinating to Protect Others: The Role of Self-Persuasion and Empathy among Young Adults

Direct persuasion is usually less effective than self-persuasion. As research shows that most young adults are unafraid of COVID-19, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of self-persuasion targeted at protecting the health of others to encourage young adults to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and examined the link between empathy and vaccination intention. We conducted two studies: Study 1 (n = 352) compared the effectiveness of self-persuasion targeted at others’ health versus personal health and direct persuasion in encouraging COVID-19 vaccination intention; Study 2 (n = 375) investigated the applicability of self-persuasion through a poster framed as an open-ended question. The theory of planned behavior-based tools were used in both studies, and structural equation modeling was conducted. Study 1 found that self-persuasion targeted at others’ health (compared to other forms of persuasion) indirectly affects vaccination intention through utility and social norm beliefs. Higher empathy, utility, social norms, and control beliefs are associated with a greater vaccination intention. Study 2 found that the poster with self-persuasion targeted at others’ health enhanced vaccination intention compared with a direct persuasion poster. Our findings demonstrate that self-persuasion targeted at others’ health can potentially increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake among young adults.