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Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy

Background: During the coronavirus pandemic, altruism has been linked to personal protective behavior, vaccine development, and vaccination intention. Studies of the moderating effects of age on altruism in pandemic preparedness have not yet been conducted. Methods: A representative cross-sectional...

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Autores principales: Barbieri, Verena, Wiedermann, Christian J., Lombardo, Stefano, Plagg, Barbara, Piccoliori, Giuliano, Gärtner, Timon, Engl, Adolf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9951972/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36829417
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs13020188
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author Barbieri, Verena
Wiedermann, Christian J.
Lombardo, Stefano
Plagg, Barbara
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Gärtner, Timon
Engl, Adolf
author_facet Barbieri, Verena
Wiedermann, Christian J.
Lombardo, Stefano
Plagg, Barbara
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Gärtner, Timon
Engl, Adolf
author_sort Barbieri, Verena
collection PubMed
description Background: During the coronavirus pandemic, altruism has been linked to personal protective behavior, vaccine development, and vaccination intention. Studies of the moderating effects of age on altruism in pandemic preparedness have not yet been conducted. Methods: A representative cross-sectional survey of residents of South Tyrol, Italy, was conducted in March 2021. Among the participants, 1169 were aged 18–69 years, and 257 were aged ≥ 70 years. The questionnaire collected information on sociodemographic and individual characteristics, including comorbidities, COVID-19-related experiences, trust in information, the likelihood of accepting the national vaccination plan, and altruism. A linear regression analysis was performed. Results: Among 1426 participants, the median altruism sum score was 24 (interquartile range, 20–26). In the participant group aged ≥ 70 years, the median altruism score was significantly higher than that in the younger group. Participants living in a single household were significantly less altruistic than other participants, while participants working in the health sector, living in a household at risk from coronavirus disease 2019, or suffering from a chronic disease were found to be more altruistic. Altruism showed significant positive correlations with age and agreement with the national vaccination plan and was negatively correlated with well-being. Trust in institutions was positively correlated with altruism only in the younger age group but not in the elderly. Linear regression models confirmed female gender and identified trust in institutions as a positive predictor of altruism. In the younger age group, increased well-being and restricted individual sports activities were associated with reduced altruism, whereas support of compulsory self-isolation after contact with a SARS-CoV-2-positive person and handwashing as a personal protective measure were positively associated. Conclusion: Altruism is associated with various predictors of pandemic behavior and traits. The strengths of the identified positive and negative correlations support the modifying role of age in the effects of altruism on pandemic attitudes. Interventions that are likely to enhance altruism to improve pandemic preparedness in certain age groups require further study.
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spelling pubmed-99519722023-02-25 Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy Barbieri, Verena Wiedermann, Christian J. Lombardo, Stefano Plagg, Barbara Piccoliori, Giuliano Gärtner, Timon Engl, Adolf Behav Sci (Basel) Article Background: During the coronavirus pandemic, altruism has been linked to personal protective behavior, vaccine development, and vaccination intention. Studies of the moderating effects of age on altruism in pandemic preparedness have not yet been conducted. Methods: A representative cross-sectional survey of residents of South Tyrol, Italy, was conducted in March 2021. Among the participants, 1169 were aged 18–69 years, and 257 were aged ≥ 70 years. The questionnaire collected information on sociodemographic and individual characteristics, including comorbidities, COVID-19-related experiences, trust in information, the likelihood of accepting the national vaccination plan, and altruism. A linear regression analysis was performed. Results: Among 1426 participants, the median altruism sum score was 24 (interquartile range, 20–26). In the participant group aged ≥ 70 years, the median altruism score was significantly higher than that in the younger group. Participants living in a single household were significantly less altruistic than other participants, while participants working in the health sector, living in a household at risk from coronavirus disease 2019, or suffering from a chronic disease were found to be more altruistic. Altruism showed significant positive correlations with age and agreement with the national vaccination plan and was negatively correlated with well-being. Trust in institutions was positively correlated with altruism only in the younger age group but not in the elderly. Linear regression models confirmed female gender and identified trust in institutions as a positive predictor of altruism. In the younger age group, increased well-being and restricted individual sports activities were associated with reduced altruism, whereas support of compulsory self-isolation after contact with a SARS-CoV-2-positive person and handwashing as a personal protective measure were positively associated. Conclusion: Altruism is associated with various predictors of pandemic behavior and traits. The strengths of the identified positive and negative correlations support the modifying role of age in the effects of altruism on pandemic attitudes. Interventions that are likely to enhance altruism to improve pandemic preparedness in certain age groups require further study. MDPI 2023-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9951972/ /pubmed/36829417 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs13020188 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Barbieri, Verena
Wiedermann, Christian J.
Lombardo, Stefano
Plagg, Barbara
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Gärtner, Timon
Engl, Adolf
Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title_full Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title_fullStr Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title_full_unstemmed Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title_short Age-Related Associations of Altruism with Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Vaccination: A Representative Survey in the North of Italy
title_sort age-related associations of altruism with attitudes towards covid-19 and vaccination: a representative survey in the north of italy
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9951972/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36829417
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs13020188
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