Benjamin Dowd-Arrow, Ph.D., co-authored their journal piece “Political variations in pandemic lifestyles and COVID-19 vaccination by age cohort in the United States” to examine the role that politics play in predicting pandemic lifestyle behaviors for older Americans.
Dr. Dowd-Arrow and their colleagues found that Democrats reported less negative pandemic lifestyle behaviors than Republicans or Independents; moreover, Democrats reported higher odds of being vaccinated than both other groups.
“Our results help better our understanding of the ways in which political discourse shapes the adoption of public health interventions,” Dowd-Arrow said. “Specifically, these findings can help inform public health campaigns to address misinformation and vaccine hesitancy through targeted interventions and community-based strategies that account for age and political beliefs.”