Parent–Child Vaccination Concordance and Its Relationship to Child Age, Parent Age and Education, and Perceived Social Norms

Abstract

Researchers established that parental vaccination status often predicts that of their children, but a limited number of studies have examined factors influencing dyadic concordance or discordance (i.e., same or different vaccination status or intent for both members). We investigated how child versus parent age as well as parents’ perceptions of their respective friends’ immunization behavior impacted un/vaccinated parents’ decisions regarding vaccinating their child. An online survey obtained the COVID-19 vaccination status and views of 762 parents of 5–17-year-old children. More than three-quarters of all dyads were concordant; 24.1% of vaccinated parents would not vaccinate their child, with greater hesitancy for younger children and among younger or less educated parents. Children of vaccinated parents and of parents who thought most of their child’s friends were vaccinated were 4.7 and 1.9 times, respectively, more likely to be vaccinated; unvaccinated parents were 3.2 times more likely to accept the vaccine for their child if they believed most of their friends would vaccinate their children. Further, parents who reported that most of their friends were vaccinated were 1.9 times more likely to have obtained the vaccine themselves, illustrating the influence of social norms. Regardless of their own vaccination status, parents of unvaccinated children were more likely to be politically conservative. If communities or circles of friends could achieve or convey a vaccinated norm, this might persuade undecided or reluctant parents to vaccinate their children. Future research should examine the effects of community behavior and messages highlighting social norms on pediatric vaccine uptake.

Rates and determinants of Rotavirus vaccine uptake among children in Italy: a cross-sectional study within the 2022 OBVIOUS* project

“…Furthermore, in this study, the parent’s educational attainment did not correlate with any of the study outcomes. Currently, there is no concordance in the literature on the role of parent’s educational attainment in their children’s vaccinations [ 26 – 27 ]. According to recent evidence, factors more specific than parent’s educational attainment, such as health literacy or vaccination literacy, may have a greater impact on children’s vaccination uptake [ 28 – 29 ].…”

Potential motivators affecting parental intention in COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6 months to 4 years: Implications for targeted vaccine interventions in Japan

“…Additionally, since prior studies have shown an association between parents of younger children and higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, the focus of the current study on young children under 5 years old may have contributed to the high hesitancy rate. 28 This study was conducted during the eighth wave of COVID-19, 16 which had the highest recorded number of deaths; however, many of the infected individuals who died of the virus were older adults. Therefore, parents may have thought that the impact on their children would be limited.…”