AUTHOR=Wang Yongyi , Zhang Xinping 

TITLE=Influence of Parental Psychological Flexibility on Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Coping Style

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.783401

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.783401

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy hinders the establishment of immune barrier in children. Psychological flexibility may be a key contributing factor to pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and self-efficacy and coping style play an important role in the relationship, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A cross-sectional study was conducted on parents from June 2021 to July 2021. A total of 382 parents were recruited for an online-investigation. Serial mediation models were used to examine whether self-efficacy and coping style mediated in the psychological flexibility-pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy linkage.</p><p><bold>Result:</bold> Psychological flexibility was negatively related to pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (<italic>r</italic> = −0.198, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001). Coping styles rather than self-efficacy played a mediating role independently (95% CI: −0.263 to −0.058). Serial mediation analyses indicated that self-efficacy and coping style co-play a serial mediating role in the association of psychological flexibility and pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (95% CI: −0.037 to −0.001).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> The present study showed that high psychological flexibility, high self-efficacy, and positive coping style were conducive to the lower pediatric COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.</p>