National narcissism and support for anti-vaccination policy: The mediating role of vaccination conspiracy beliefs

We investigate the relationship between vaccination hesitancy and the way people feel about their national groups. Anti-vaccination attitudes are associated with conspiracy beliefs, which have been linked to group-based defensiveness. Thus, we hypothesized that defensiveness about one’s national identity, operationalized as collective narcissism measured in relation to one’s national group, might be related to anti-vaccination attitudes. We found that national narcissism, but not national identification, predicted the support for a voluntary vaccination policy both in a general population sample (N=361), and among visitors of antivaccination discussion forums (N=178). In two further studies, involving national quota samples, national narcissism was also related to vaccination conspiracy beliefs (N=1048), and these beliefs mediated its association with support for a voluntary vaccination policy (N=811). By highlighting the link between anti-science attitudes and collective narcissism, we demonstrate that group defensiveness can be linked to support for decisions that may undermine the health and well-being of present and future ingroup members.