Keywords

healthcare, attitudes, conventional, unconventional, personality, physician trust

Abstract

In this study, I examined the correlations between conventional and unconventional

healthcare attitudes of young adults attending the University of Central Florida and their levels of

physician trust and the Big Five personality variables of openness, agreeableness, neuroticism,

conscientiousness, and extraversion. I used an online survey method and 300 participants

provided data for this study. This was an exploratory study with the goal of determining if young

adults (i.e., college students) valued conventional versus unconventional healthcare more.

Participants completed a general demographic questionnaire, followed by scales I specifically

had created for this study to assess various aspects of their attitudes toward both types of

healthcare. They also completed the Big Five questionnaire as well as a scale that assessed the

construct of social desirability (the latter scale served the purpose of gauging and controlling for

participants’ tendency to respond to study items in a way that would reflect favorably of them. It

was found that, overall, participants expressed a preference for conventional healthcare

significantly more than unconventional healthcare. Also, on average, women and Blacks (or

African Americans)—though also preferring conventional types of healthcare, were significantly

more open to utilizing unconventional forms of healthcare. Possible explanations for these

findings are discussed.

Thesis Completion Year

2025

Thesis Completion Semester

Summer

Thesis Chair

Negy, Charles

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Thesis Discipline

Psychology

Language

English

Access Status

Campus Access

Length of Campus Access

5 years

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright