About the data set 

Title: Recent enough to matter: Perceived temporal proximity, anxiety, and COVID-19 vaccine intent

Creators: Anna Powell (ORCID 0000-0002-4879-4124), Halina Suwalowska (ORCID 0000-0003-4039-094X), Osman Sankoh (ORCID 0000-0003-4405-9808), Chunlan Guo (ORCID 0000-0001-7921-8878), Emily Ying Yang Chang (0000-0002-8854-5093), Sharifah Sekalala (ORCID 0000-0002-5434-5245), Laura Salisbury (ORCID 0000-0002-3526-8440), Patricia Kingori (ORCID 0000-0001-5420-2183), Cara Wilkins, After the End Team, Ruth Ogden (ORCID 0000-0002-0931-1986)

The creators hold the rights for the dataset.

Year of publication: 2026
 
Description 
Background: Vaccine hesitancy undermines vaccination strategies and is shaped by non-modifiable contextual and individual/group factors, and potentially modifiable cognitive processes. The Health Belief Model (HBM) offers a framework for understanding health decision-making, including the role of threat perception, which is influenced by perceived proximity to a threat. Construal Level Theory (CLT) suggests that psychologically distant events are construed more abstractly, reducing perceived urgency. While spatial and social proximity (physical closeness and effects on one’s social network) have been widely studied, temporal proximity (nearness or distance in time) has been explored less. Given research that the pandemic affected time perception, this study examined whether perceived temporal proximity predicts future COVID-19 vaccine intent, and whether this relationship is statistically mediated by COVID-19 anxiety. 

Methods: A cross sectional survey assessed whether temporal proximity was associated with future vaccine intent (less vs. more likely to vaccinate) using multivariable binary logistic regression. Mediation analysis tested whether COVID-19 anxiety explained this relationship. Covariates included age, gender, direct COVID impact/risk variables, and trust in government. In total, 696 individuals were included in analyses (345 women; mean age = 47.27 ± 15.53 years). 

Results: Greater temporal proximity predicted greater intention to receive a future COVID-19 vaccine. There was also evidence of a significant indirect association via COVID 19 anxiety: greater perceived proximity was associated with higher anxiety, and higher anxiety was associated with greater vaccination intent. Significant covariates included perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, and trust in government. 

Conclusions: Findings support evidence that proximity influences threat perception and behavioural intentions, demonstrating that temporal proximity functions similarly in a real-world preventative healthcare context. The observed indirect association via anxiety, considered alongside the HBM and CLT, is discussed as a possible mechanism underlying the proximity-intention link. Longitudinal research is needed to assess causality and inform communication strategies using temporal framing.

Contact details a.powell1@ljmu.ac.uk; r.s.ogden@ljmu.ac.uk

Terms of use
Citation: Anna Powell, Halina Suwalowska, Osman Sankoh, Chunlan Guo, Emily Ying Yang Chang, Sharifah Sekalala, Laura Salisbury, Patricia Kingori, Cara Wilkins, After the End Team, Ruth Ogden (2026) Recent enough to matter: Perceived temporal proximity, anxiety, and COVID-19 vaccine intent. https://doi.org/10.24377/LJMU.d.00000275 [Data Collection]

Copyright: This work is under a CC BY 4.0 license

Project and funding information
Title: After the End
Funder: Wellcome Trust, 225238/Z/22/Z

Contents: 
Recent_enough_to_matter_DATA.sav (SPSS file)
Recent_enough_to_matter_DATA.sav (Excel file)

Variables:
Age

Binary_Gender: Gender recoded to male or female. Male = 1, Female = 2

Long_COVID: Long-COVID status: "Do you consider yourself to have Long-COVID?". No = 0, Yes = 1

Binary_Health_Vulnerability: Health vulnerability recoded to no or yes. No = 0, Yes = 1

Carer_Status: Status as carer for someone vulnerable to COVID-19: "Are you a carer for anyone who you would consider vulnerable to COVID-19?". No = 0, Yes = 1

Binary_Vaccine_Intention: Vaccine intent recoded to hesitant or accepting. Hesitant = 0, Accepting = 1

Trust_in_Government: Trust in government composite. Higher score = greater trust in government.

COVID_Anx: CPAS_11 composite score. Higher score = greater COVID-19 anxiety.

Temporal_Proximity: Temporal proximity of COVID-19: "When do you feel the COVID-19 pandemic ended for you?". Between 4 and 5 years ago = 2, Between 2 and 3 years ago = 3, Between 1 and 2 years ago = 4, Less than 1 year ago = 5, The COVID-19 pandemic will never end = 6. Higher score = feel that COVID-19 pandemic was more recent or not yet ended.

All_Gender: All gender responses: W"hich of the following best describes your gender?". Male = 1, Female = 2, Non binary / third gender = 3, Prefer not to say = 4

All_Health_Vulnerability: All health vulnerability responses: "Do you have any long-term or chronic health conditions which make you vulnerable to COVID-19?". No = 0, Yes = 1, Unsure = 2

All_Vaccine_Intention: All vaccine intent responses: "Do you wish to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in the future?". Definitely not = 1, Probably not = 2, Might or might not = 3, Probably yes = 4, Definitely yes = 5. 

ANX1 - ANX11: CPAS_11 items. Strongly disagree = 1, Somewhat disagree = 2, Neither agree nor disagree = 3, Somewhat agree = 4, Strongly agree = 5. 

Trust_GOV1 - TrustGOV7: Trust in government items (actual item wordings given in published manuscript "Recent enough to matter: Perceived temporal proximity, anxiety, and COVID-19 vaccine intent") Strongly disagree = 1, Somewhat disagree = 2, Neither agree nor disagree = 3, Somewhat agree = 4, Strongly agree = 5. 


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