Uptake of HPV Vaccine: Demographics, Sexual History and Values, Parenting Style, and Vaccine Attitudes
Received 3 March 2008; accepted 4 June 2008.
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the relationships of demographics, parenting, and vaccine attitudes with the acceptance of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine or to the intent to vaccinate in the next 12 months.
Methods
Mothers (n = 153) with daughters ages 11 to 17 years were recruited through the pediatric clinic waiting room/announcements to complete a questionnaire.
Results
Eighteen percent of the daughters had not received the vaccine, although it had been offered; 34% had not been offered the vaccine and did not intend to get it in the next 12 months; 22% had not been offered the vaccine but intended to get it in the next 12 months; 26% had started vaccination or completed the series. In a multinomial, multivariable logistic regression model, those mothers who had less than a high school degree, had a history of a sexually tranmitted infection, supervised their daughter more when she was with peers, and whose daughter would not mind three shots were more likely to be favorable about their daughter being vaccinated. The following variables were not related to their attitudes about getting the vaccine: mothers' and daughters' ages, race/ethnicity, mothers' self-reported history of HPV disease and age of sexual initiation, daughters' dating status and anticipated age of sexual initiation, the number of sexual topics discussed and level of comfort, mother's sexual values, and the family environment.
Conclusions
Mothers' decisions about the HPV vaccine were not related to their sexual values or their daughters' sexual behavior, but rather their parenting, sense of vulnerability, and vaccine attitudes. Mothers who were not planning to vaccinate did not appear to not feel an urgency given the newness of the vaccine, and many planned to vaccinate eventually.
aDepartment of Pediatrics and Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
bDepartment of Pediatrics, Section of Adolescent Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
cDepartment of Psychology, University of Houston at Clear Lake, Houston, Texas
dDepartment of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio
Address correspondence to: Susan L. Rosenthal, Ph.D., Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-0319
This study was funded by a grant from Merck Vaccine Division and the National Institute of Health (U 19 AI61972).
ABSTRACT