Does parents' socio-economic status matter in intentions of vaccinating against human papillomavirus for adolescent daughters?

Background: The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination provides substantial protection, and it is best to be taken before the age of twelve. Taiwan approved HPV vaccines since 2006. However, very few female adolescent have been vaccinated until now.

Objectives: To examine whether the parents' socio-economic status matters in deciding to purchase HPV vaccination for their daughters based on the theory of planned behavior.

Method: A structured questionnaire to collect 394 responses from parents of adolescent girls in Taiwan. Data was coded to categorize relevant socio-economic classes, and was analyzed with SPSS.

Results: The behavior intentions of parents with low (mean= 5.28) and high (5.01) socio-economic status are significantly stronger than the moderate (4.56) in deciding to purchase the HPV vaccination. Socio-economic factor has a slightly negative impact (B= -0.08), and attitude (0.68), subjective norms (0.16), and behavior control (0.32) have positive impacts on the parents' intention.

Conclusion: Major impacts on the decision to purchase an HPV vaccination for their adolescent was not due to the parents' socio-economic status but the parent's attitude. As the major predictor of a less complicated decision, attitudes toward the HPV vaccination should be reinforced through continuous communications between service providers and patient-advocate groups.