HPV Vaccination: What Factors Predict Parents’ Intentions?

Sociodemographic factors such as race, maternal education, and a recommendation from a health care provider have the biggest impact on parents’ intent to vaccinate their teenagers with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, according to a recent study.

HPV vaccination rates in the United States have not yet met the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% vaccine coverage among US teens. The 2014 National Immunization Survey–Teen study—which found that only 60% of adolescent girls and 42% of adolescent boys had received at least 1 dose of the vaccine within the previous year—sought to investigate factors related to parental intention toward the HPV vaccination, since little data related to parental intent exists.
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For their study, the researchers assessed data on 10,354 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years and used weighted multivariable logistic regression to investigate how parents’ intention to have their children vaccinated is affected by sociodemographic characteristics of mothers and adolescents and also by a recommendation from a health care provider.

The major factors among parents of unvaccinated adolescents, which were significantly related to parents’ intention to have their teens vaccinated within the following 12 months, include Hispanic ethnicity, mothers with less than a high school diploma, and a recommendation from a health care provider to receive the vaccine. Additionally, for adolescent boys, non-Hispanic black race was a significant predictor of parents’ intent to vaccinate.

“Maternal education and Hispanic ethnicity were the strongest predictors of parental intent to vaccinate against HPV, followed by provider recommendation,” the researchers concluded. “As HPV vaccination rates in the United States remain below the Healthy People 2020 goal, messages may need to be targeted based on maternal education, race/ethnicity, and provider recommendation.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Mohammed KA, Vivian E, Loux TM, Arnold LD. Factors associated with parents’ intent to vaccinate adolescents for human papillomavirus: findings from the 2014 national immunization survey–teen. Prev Chronic Dis. 2017;14:160314. http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd14.160314.