COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Cross-national differences in vaccination as unselfish behavior

对他人的关心可能会在决策过程中发挥重要作用。这项研究利用调查和心理学实验，考察了关心他人在疫苗接种决策中所起作用的跨国差异。这项研究还通过数学模型检验了这种担忧对预测的跨国流感疫苗接种率的影响。这项跨学科研究整合了经济学、心理学、数学和流行病学的概念、工具和目标。这项研究涉及传染病传播的年龄结构数学模型。该模型使用博弈论将年龄相关的疫苗接种决策和统计方法结合在一起，根据对关注他人和对感染风险的看法的调查项目的反应，估计个人选择接种流感疫苗的可能性。这项研究聚焦于美国、日本、法国和中国，评估了接触模式和流感疫苗接种决策在不同文化中的差异，以及它们如何为促进疫苗接种的国家具体战略提供参考。生物系统、个人决策以及社会和文化影响之间的接口阐明了传染病和社会决策之间的动态相互作用。这项研究可能会发现通过了解亲社会倾向来增加流感和其他疾病疫苗接种覆盖率的新方法。

Concern for others may play a significant role in decision making. This research examines cross-national differences in the role that concern for others plays in vaccination decisions using surveys and psychological experiments. The research also examines the influence of this concern on predicted cross-national influenza vaccination rates through mathematical modeling. This interdisciplinary research integrates concepts, tools, and objectives from economics, psychology, mathematics, and epidemiology. The research involves an age-structured mathematical model of infectious-disease transmission. The model uses game theory to incorporate age-dependent vaccination decisions and statistical methods to estimate the probability that individuals will choose to vaccinate against influenza, based on responses to survey items on concern for others and perceptions of infection risk. Focusing on the USA, Japan, France, and China, this research assesses how contact patterns and influenza vaccination decision making vary across cultures and how they can inform nation-specific strategies to promote vaccination. The interface of biological systems, indivduals' decision making, and social and cultural influences illuminates the dynamic interplay between an infectious disease and social decision making. The research is likely to discover novel ways to increase vaccination coverage against influenza, as well as other diseases, by understanding pro-social tendencies.