Understanding, trusting, and applying scientific insights to improve your health: A latent profile analysis approach

Various leading causes of death can be prevented or delayed through informed decision-making and lifestyle changes. Previous work has, to some extent, linked such health-promoting behavior (HPB) with variables capturing individuals’ understanding of science, trust in science, and capacity to obtain, process, and apply evidence-based information in the health context. However, empirical research on the relationship between scientific knowledge, trust in science, health literacy, and HPB is scarce. Additionally, no study has investigated whether these characteristics interact to form homogeneous, high-risk subgroups of the population. The present online study (N = 705) revealed that trust in science and health literacy were positively related to a wide array of HPB (e.g., healthy nutrition, physical activity, stress management), while scientific knowledge was only positively associated with COVID-19 vaccination intention. Furthermore, the results of latent profile analyses yielded four subgroups (i.e., low, moderate, and high levels of all three variables and a varied profile exhibiting very low trust in science, low health literacy, and moderate scientific knowledge). The identified subgroups differ significantly in their HPB and other variables of interest. Hence, the present study offers some guidance on which groups may be targeted with public health campaigns and how they may be designed.