Journal Article

Impact of Dark Triad personality traits on COVID-19 vaccination uptake and prevention efforts: insights from the European Covid Survey (ECOS)

Bock, Sophia, Neumann-Böhme, Sebastian, Steinorth, Petra

2025

Overview

Background Even though the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in general can be considered as one of the most successful public health campaigns in the history of medicine, general vaccination hesitancy has remained an issue of concern throughout the world. We add to a deeper understanding of vaccination hesitancy by identifying what drives primary vaccination and booster uptake, as well as adherence to simple preventive measures such as physical distancing by investigating the role of Dark Triad personality traits, i.e. Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Methods We investigate data from Germany and the United Kingdom from the European Covid Survey which was collected from 23 December 2021 to 10 January 2022. Logit regressions and random effects regressions were performed to study the effect of dark personality traits on COVID-19-related prevention. Results We find a statistically significant association between Dark Triad personality traits and prevention efforts, primary vaccinations, and booster uptake against COVID-19. Specifically, individuals scoring high in psychopathy are associated with a lower likelihood of having received primary immunization. The marginal effect amounts to 3.31%-points. High narcissistic personality traits are correlated with a substantially higher likelihood (4.52%-points) to refuse booster shots after having received the primary vaccinations. Dark Triad personality traits may be relevant factors associated with vaccine-related decision-making. In addition, individuals with higher psychopathic tendencies report significantly lower engagement in other simple preventive behavior, while higher scores in narcissism are associated with higher reported adherence to simple preventive measures. Conclusions Our findings highlight the crucial role that personality plays in pandemic-related prevention. Policymakers, health professionals, and those in charge of health messaging may take these factors into account when devising communication strategies to improve the vaccination uptake and adherence to preventive behaviors. Future pandemics and public health crises would benefit from targeted, nuanced approaches to public health messaging to promote greater public adherence and public health.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Antisocial personality disorder / Antisocial Personality Disorder - psychology / Behavior / Biostatistics / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - prevention & control / COVID-19 vaccines / COVID-19 Vaccines - administration & dosage / Dark Triad personality traits / Decision making / Decision-making under risk / Demand for vaccines / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Female / Germany - epidemiology / Health aspects / Health attitudes / Health promotion / Humans / Immunization / Machiavellianism / Male / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Narcissism / Pandemics / Personality / Personality traits / Pharmaceuticals / Prevention / Preventive behavior / Psychological aspects / Psychopathy / Public Health / SARS-CoV-2 / Social behavior / Social distancing / Statistical analysis / Surveys / Surveys and Questionnaires / United Kingdom - epidemiology / Vaccination / Vaccination - psychology / Vaccination - statistics & numerical data / Vaccination Hesitancy - psychology / Vaccination Hesitancy - statistics & numerical data / Vaccine / Vaccine hesitancy / Vaccines / Young Adult