基因编辑技术的进展对疾病的治疗和预防具有重要意义。因此,了解公众对基因编辑的看法很重要,因为公众认可基因编辑的意愿可能与技术突破本身一样重要。以前的研究几乎完全考察了在特定问题上对基因编辑的态度。但还没有解决个人对基因编辑的态度是如何在一系列问题上结合起来的:也就是说,离散的程度,异质的态度概况与简单的支持/反对连续体相比存在。这里,我们通过对来自皮尤研究中心(N=4726;美国居民)的数据进行潜在类别分析,涉及广泛的基因编辑主题。我们发现,对基因编辑的态度凝聚成10个不同的潜在类别,显示出支持/反对连续体的一些证据,而且为了每个班级之间明显的质量差异,即使支持或反对阶级,在一些问题上。最对立的阶级在年龄上与支持者阶级明显不同,性别,政治意识形态和自评知识。这些发现提供了证据,表明对基因编辑的态度是异质的和公开的话语,以及政策制定在评估这项技术时需要考虑一系列的论点。
Advances in gene-editing technology have important implications for the treatment and prevention of disease. Accordingly, it is important to understand public perceptions towards gene editing, as the public\'s willingness to endorse gene editing may be as important as technological breakthroughs themselves. Previous research has almost exclusively examined attitudes towards gene editing on specific issues, but has not addressed how attitudes towards gene editing across a range of issues coalesce in individuals: that is, the degree to which discrete, heterogeneous attitudinal profiles exist versus a simple support/oppose continuum. Here, we addressed this issue using latent class analysis on data from The Pew Research Center (N = 4726; US residents) across a wide range of gene-editing topics. We found that attitudes towards gene editing cohere into 10 distinct latent classes that showed some evidence of a support/oppose continuum, but also for clear qualitative differences between each class, even with support or oppose classes, on a number of issues. The most opposed classes significantly differed from the supporter classes in age, sex, political ideology and self-rated knowledge. These findings provide evidence that attitudes towards gene editing are heterogeneous and public discourse, as well as policy making need to consider a range of arguments when evaluating this technology.